Gfinity, a leading international esports entertainment group, today announced that world-renowned esports franchise, FNATIC, will join the highly popular Gfinity Elite Series for season three, commencing on 2nd March 2018. FNATIC is the first new team to be announced as part of Gfinity’s Elite Series expansion which sees the number of teams increase to 10. Gfinity recently added EA SPORTS FIFA 18 to the line-up of titles joining Rocket League and Street Fighter V and teams will compete for a prize-pool in excess of £250,000.
Founded in 2004, FNATIC has established itself as one of the leading franchises in global esports with teams competing in over 20 global competitions each year. Headquartered in London, they have been a huge part of the esports revolution with their teams winning more than $8 million in prize money and earlier in 2017 signed an exclusive partnership with Italian football giant, AS Roma. The AS Roma FIFA team powered by FNATIC will make its debut in the Elite Series in March 2018.
Prior to FNATIC’s opening match, amateur gamers from around world are invited to sign up for free to compete in the Challenger Series to earn a place in the Elite Draft. After six weeks of online competition, the top 40 players will enter the draft in the hope of being selected by one of the 10 teams with each drafting two players to become part of their active roster. The teams will compete in a six-week regular season in a bid to make the play-offs which will be played over a two-week period from the Gfinity Esports Arena in London.
“Having established the Elite Series as one of the leading esports tournaments in the world, we couldn’t be more excited by expanding and bringing in a team of FNATIC’s calibre,” said Neville Upton, CEO of Gfinity. “With their inclusion, an already competitive roster and more announcements to come, this will be our most action-packed season to date.”
Patrik Sattermon, CGO and Co-Owner, FNATIC said: “We have followed the Elite Series closely for some time and have been thoroughly impressed, in terms of the tournament but also in both the professionalism and vision of Gfinity’s team.
The new opportunities for our existing FIFA and Rocket League rosters are very exciting and a return to the fighting game scene with Street Fighter V is something we very much look forward to.”