Member Info for ManuteBol

There was no reference to the LSE or delisting in the RNS. Furthermore, why is the old Board still tied to Guild post-acquisition under the new ownership?

Guild's website no longer has an Investor Relations link in their main navigation, and the original IR page is now dead:

https://guildesports.com/investors

Guild announced a new esports roster two weeks ago (PUBG Mobile).

https://x.com/guildesports/status/1834641829309952384?s=46&t=fo4YOiRU-x4N5EEpe5bwCQ

They placed 20th out of 20 teams in their first event.

https://liquipedia.net/pubgmobile/PUBG_Mobile_Super_League/EMEA/2024/Fall

The UK Esports Team Committee dropped Guild from its program today.

https://x.com/theuketc/status/1826937427371479310?s=46&t=fo4YOiRU-x4N5EEpe5bwCQ

“We can confirm today, the UKETC members have voted to remove @guildesports from the UKETC.

This decision was not taken lightly, however due to a lack of involvement and commitment from Guild during the past 12 months, we saw no other route forward at this time.”

Ahh, good catch:

https://jalopnik.com/sim-racing-powerhouse-fanatec-slips-into-bankruptcy-aft-1851609843

I wonder if Guild has been paid by them.

Fanatec and ENDX are no longer listed on Guild’s socials:

https://x.com/guildesports/status/1826573497897738527?s=46&t=fo4YOiRU-x4N5EEpe5bwCQ

They’re now down to 5 sponsors.

The most current list is on their socials.

https://x.com/guildesports?s=21&t=fo4YOiRU-x4N5EEpe5bwCQ

The Guild website is always outdated.

The biggest facepalm with this RNS is no mention of revenue implications. It’s 100% marketing.

The entire point of Fortnite’s Creator Economy is that map makers get a revenue split from player engagement on the map. The more users playing the map = more revenue for the map maker (ie Guild and Sky). That said, it looks like Sky is reaping 100% of the revenue due to their investment into the map’s development.

Huge miss.

https://create.fortnite.com/news/%5BnewsSlug%5D?team=personal&newsSlug=introducing-the-creator-economy-2-0

It looks like both Samsung and Hyperice have both quietly exited Guild as sponsors at the end of June 2024. You can see the before/after in the following tweets:

https://x.com/guildesports/status/1806747443716845706

https://x.com/guildesports/status/1808506222011625595

It doesn't appear that Guild have updated their website:

https://guildesports.com/partners

Guild's interim results confirms the two core issues we've been worried about: 1) Falling sponsorship revenue/interest and 2) Underperforming esports teams/players. With no clear strategy beyond Esports World Cup and no serious sponsor news, the second half of 2024 does not bode well.

Indeed, Snow. When is the last time Guild added a sponsor? They've only shed sponsors as far as I know (ex. BitStamp, Coca Cola) and we're already halfway through 2024.

Completely agree. Guild seems to be betting everything on one event (EWC) which ends in 2-3 months. I see no viable long-term strategy. They’ve gone from fielding Top 10 esports teams with real relevancy/sponsorability to Top 100 teams that are mostly irrelevant.

Guild's CSGO team failed to qualify for EWC ($1,000,000 prize pool).

https://liquipedia.net/counterstrike/Esports_World_Cup/2024/Europe/Open

Looks like they dropped the team last week as a result:

https://x.com/guildesports/status/1793914839741374918

Example:

https://x.com/eswcgg/status/1788916999705300993?s=46&t=fo4YOiRU-x4N5EEpe5bwCQ

$2m purse for Apex Legends (btw Guild no longer competes in this title)

$600K for first place

80-90% of the $600k goes to the players

Which nets $60-$120K for Guild

The $5m referenced earlier represents the aggregate purse across the titles Guild competes in at EWC.

The $20m Club Championship purse is in addition to this, but only applies toward the Top 16 teams. So technically Guild has a chance to earn additional $$$, but given 1) how few titles they compete in vs their competitors and 2) how uncompetitive their teams/players are, it’s a long shot that Guild makes the Top 16 (let alone Top 5).

No, Guild only competes in the following EWC titles:

Street Fighter ($1.1m total purse)

EAFC ($1.1m total purse)

Counterstrike ($1m total purse)

Fortnite ($1m total purse)

SIM Racing ($500k total purse)

Plus misc club/player bounties

That’s ~$5M total, but bear in mind 1st Place is around 40% of the total purse, then Guild needs to pay out 80-90% of those winnings to the players. So best case, Guild would only be entitled to ~$200k-$400k.

https://files.bo3.gg/uploads/image/39996/image/webp-3c515e2683d4f3b7629a1b2d23fece0f.webp

I personally have huge concerns with the irrelevancy of the titles they currently compete in, and how poor their team rankings are.

Also, Guild’s entries into SIM Racing, Street Fighter, etc are clearly subsidised by the Saudi EWC Club Program, which is very short-sighted. Building their business around one event is far from strategic (or lucrative). Guild alluded to this partnership mysteriously in the past, but it’s now official.

https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/guild_esports/news/rns/story/ry7ze8r

https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/guild_esports/news/rns/story/xjdmkkx

Respectfully, any article on Proactive is pure propaganda seeded from the listed company.

Nothing too surprising in there TBH. The £4.5M loss after Year 3 doesn't demonstrate any real path-to-profit, and with the ad market and esports/gaming market in total shambles, Year 4 doesn't look promising. Remember, the Bitstamp sponsorship was Guild's biggest partner, and they've mutually terminated the deal effective January 2024 (This was great for FY2023's books, but horrible for FY2024 with no replacement partner in sight). Some additional concerns:

--Esports (Guild's core product): Their teams are generally irrelevant now across the board, and the decrease in Prize Money revenue substantiates this.

--Audience: They seem to have acquired a Fortnite TikTok channel, which overwhelmingly contributed to the fluff growth metrics in the Annual Report. I don't ever recall seeing an RNS or purchase price reported, and again, this is not organic growth by any means.

--Academy: There's still little to no reporting on revenue/audience, which speaks for itself.

Link:

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/619bb5e77784bc48f0fd2841/t/65ba317fbcb25c59041da648/1706701185779/Guild+FY23+YE+Accounts+-+Final+%281%29.pdf

Shocking, no Annual Results posted this morning.

LSE has a 4-month deadline to file.

Today is 121 days since 2 Oct.

The old CFO stepped down two weeks ago.

What is going on here???

They filed on 31 Jan last year, so I’m assuming it’s posting on Wednesday.