Gfinity and HT&E Limited have announced that Gfinity Esports Australia will cease operations in late November.
Gfinity Esports Australia has ran for over two years, hosting a variety of events across a number of popular titles. This includes the Gfinity Elite Series, which features Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Street Fighter, and Rocket League.
Dominic Remond, CEO of Gfinity Esports Australia commented in a release: “We would like to thank all our stakeholders and the Australian esports community for their support over the last few years. This is a very difficult announcement for all our staff. We will continue to meet our obligations to our existing partners, including Supercars with the upcoming Gfinity Supercars Eseries, and deliver outstanding events until we close later this year.”
In a release, it was made clear that the company had not seen the return that was forecast when it launched in 2017. Gfinity Australia is currently hosting the Gfinity Supercars Eseries which looks set to be the last event hosted by the company.
Ciaran Davis, Chief Executive of HT&E added: “Esports remains an exciting industry with significant global interest and activity and HT&E believes it will become a mainstream and significant content-audience-commercial medium in the long term. But our absolute focus is on our core radio business and the economics of esports in the Australian market are yet to deliver sustainable, positive earnings. It is critical our investments deliver value for shareholders and with esports there is no certainty on when a positive contribution might be achieved.”
Esports Insider says: Gfinity closing down in Australia is a huge blow for a region that is often forgotten about in the overall esports landscape. The replies from fans to the announcement alone have already highlighted the concern among Australian esports fans; the hope is that another tournament organiser can step up to support grassroots esports in the region. With that being said, it’s clearly not going to be a overly-fruitful task for any company that undertakes the challenge to begin with.
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