Fnatic

Fnatic Turning 15 - Then & Now

Fnatic recently turned 15. Here’s a Q&A with Sam Mathews, Founder and CEO, on what they’ve learnt and where they are now

AUTHOR Pablo Monti  @PabloMMonti

natic just turned 15, what was it like back then? Did you envisage that the organisation, and esports more broadly, would become what they are today, at least this soon? Sam Mathews: Back in 2004, esports was much smaller, it was more of a scene than an industry. Gamers would play with their friends to create teams and use IRC to find others interested in playing. The most common connection was a dial up modem, with the lucky ones having ISDN or university fibre. There were tournaments but on a much smaller scale with a few thousand viewers not millions we see today. One thing that has not changed is the passion and excitement fans and players had then is very much the same as today, just on a larger scale. F

From the beginning I realised that the potential was inevitable, esports represented a paradigm shift in competing. It gives players the ability to compete on a level playing field and get the same thrill from competing in a physical sport, but at anytime, and from anywhere with an internet connection and computer. Fnatic was from day 1 positioned to be at the forefront of this movement, and we still are!

To move forward as an industry and realise the potential it required constant evolution of the fundamentals: better internet, cheaper broadband, faster devices, more advanced but simpler to use games, and finally the invention of the streaming platforms, and VOD such as Youtube. It was just a matter of time for the technology to catch-up and the industry to thrive.

ESJ: During 2019, Fnatic signed a contract with OnePlus and raised $19 million in funding, what’s the future for the organisation? SM: Following on from the investment earlier this year, Fnatic is in the next phase of global expansion. I recently resumed the CEO role and appointed a new management team including Chairman Nick Fry, formerly the CEO of Mercedes AMG F1, and COO Glen Calvert, formerly the Founder of Affectv. to scale the company to the next level. Adding to this we’ve had incredible hires accross departments from companies such as Redbull, Bumble, Uber, Nike, and much more.

We’re looking globally as we further expand into South-East Asia, China and Japan, focused on our core mission of seeking out and leveling up every gamer on the planet. Working with top-tier brands globally only supports this and we’re doubling down on our offering to the Oneplus / AMD level brands of this world, to help them navigate and maximise there involvement in the exciting world of esports.

We are also investing heavily in esports talent, developing a centralised performance function for all Fantic teams to drive innovation through nutrition, scouting and training. We recently opened new custom-built 10,000 sqft training facilities in East London with top-of-the-line equipment for our teams to train and stream from.

We also continue to push innovation through our line of professional grade gaming peripherals and continue to develop and launch new products including an audio line as well as partnering with the most forwardthinking brands.

ESJ: Esports BAR is coming back to Miami and it looks like there will be a mix of esports specialists and non endemic brands. Why is Esports BAR a good place to find partners and sponsors? SM: Esports Bar is a great event for the breadth of delegates from across the esports industry aswell as the brands it attracts. You get a chance in a beautiful setting to not only chat business, but also have some unwinding time together where the great conversations happen, and much is learned. This ensures that there are plenty of opportunities to find new opportunities as well as partners that share our values and fit the brief of what we are looking for as an organisation.

ESJ: Fnatic has teams with lots of history in Tier 1 games like League of Legends, CS:GO and DOTA 2; but you also have teams in many other games. How difficult is to manage so many teams? SM: We’ve been fortunate to have had time to test what works, and what doesn’t. Through trials and tribulations we’ve reached a place today where our players sit within a strong management structure, where each team has its own core setup with support staff, all aided by a central team which makes their jobs as smooth as we can. It is extremely important to ensure that we have the right staff in place to nurture and develop our talent across all titles.

We are aware of the challenges of doing something global across several titles, thats why we write playbooks and look to refine and improve, learning along the way so that we can replicate success in new titles, new regions and new squads.

ESJ: Back in 2017, Fnatic signed a partnership with AS Roma focused on FIFA. How important is to partner with such an established football club, and what does Fnatic gets out of it? SM: The partnership with AS Roma is a true partnership in the sense that it is a two way street. We share a mutual investor, Raptor, and subsequently help each other via the shared resource of the team.

Fnatic adds value through our publisher network and strong brand association within the esports industry, managing the day to day running of the team, whilst enabling AS Roma to engage with a younger, global audience. This provides them with a unique innovative asset to monetise. From our perspective it’s very important to partner with such an institution in the world of football. AS Roma gives Fnatic leverage when it comes to FIFA specific tournaments and people instantly recognise the brand. As Fnatic grows our fanbase, aligning with such institutions is vital to reach a wider audience across other major sports.

I wouldn’t say the partnership is about what each organisation ‘gets out of it” but more a sharing of values via a mutually beneficial partnership to help us achieve our objectives.

ESJ: A few weeks ago you had something of an issue with your Twitter account. After a few hours, Fnatic’s account regained almost 500k followers, how important is creating a community around the organisation for Fnatic?

Our Fans, who we refer to as our Fnatics are everything. We wouldn’t be here without them, they are the key to our success, literaly the organization wouldn’t exist. Since 2004 we’ve built a community of millions of Fnatics by being fun, being successful, and giving them something to believe in. They’ve been with us through every high and low, so temporary losing a huge portion of them to a Twitter glitch was a little terrifying and frustrating. Luckily this has now been resolved and back to normal thanks to Twitters support.

Social media itself is a huge part of connecting, you have to speak in their language, often memes haha. But its also a way to give back to our Fnatics, we did a full day of giveaways on Twitter last month to celebrate our 15th birthday, where people won one-ofa-kind signed Gear and merch. It was hugely popular.

For us though, this is just the beginning of Fan creation, it was our fans who coined #alwaysfnatic, and we live and die by that now, we’re here for the long term.