News UK signs e-sports agreement with Gfinity

17th Apr 2015 09:27

E-sports group Gfinity has agreed a two-year commercial partnership with Rupert Murdoch's News UK.The deal will see the video gaming firm, which runs Britain's first esports-dedicated arena hosting weekly professional competitions of games, enter a partnership with The Sun.The tabloid will become the official partner and title sponsors of the Gfinity UK Championship Series weekly online tournaments and its "High Performance Programme", which aims to develop esports players from the UK."The backing of such a large organisation is not only great news for us but also a huge boost to the UK's growing esports sector," said Neville Upton, Gfinity co-founder and chief executive.The AIM-listed group, which floated on the junior market in December, said the deal will "provide an opportunity to uncover the next generation of esports stars" and was hopeful it would lead to an increase in audience, adding that readers of The Sun will be offered priority tickets for the events."Through our new partnership with Gfinity, we are proud to have become the first newspaper group to break into the expanding esports market," said Mike Darcey, chief executive of News UK, which was in the news earlier in the week as it confirmed controversial ex-News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks was poised to return to the Murdoch empire as chief of a new digital and video business. Shares in Gfinity, which in February signed an agreement with cinema operator Vue Entertainment to develop and launch the UK's first premier esports arena in London, were up 3.38% to 26.36p at 10:17 on Friday.Investors following deals closely might perceive a recent blossoming of corporate interest in the Esports market, after listed retailer Game Digital recently moved into the esports market with the acquisition of festival organiser Multiplay for £20m. Multiplay, which provides online multiplayer gaming services for PC gamers, has organised more than 150 gaming and esports events in the UK and internationally, including its flagship Insomnia festival.