FACEIT is an

esports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...

platform founded in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 2012. The company has administered leagues for games such as ''

Counter-Strike 2 ''Counter-Strike 2'' is a 2023 free-to-play Tactical shooter, tactical first-person shooter video game, game developed and published by Valve Corporation, Valve. It is the fifth entry in the ''Counter-Strike'' series, developed as an updated v ...

'', ''

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL'', commonly referred to as ''League'', is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for ''Warcraf ...

'', ''

Rocket League ''Rocket League'' is a 2015 vehicular Association football, soccer video game developed and published by Psyonix for various home consoles and computers. A sequel to 2008's ''Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars'', ''Rocket League ...

'',

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege ''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege'' is a 2015 tactical shooter game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. The game puts heavy emphasis on environmental destruction and cooperation between players. Each player assumes control o ...

, ''

Dota 2 ''Dota 2'' is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve Corporation, Valve. The game is a sequel to ''Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA''), a community-created Mod (video gaming), mod for Blizzard Entertainment's ''War ...

'' and ''

Team Fortress 2 ''Team Fortress 2'' (''TF2'') is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation in 2007. It is the sequel to the 1996 ''Team Fortress'' Mod (video gaming), mod for ''Quake (video g ...

''. In 2022, it was announced that FACEIT and

company ESL were being acquired by Savvy Games Group (SGG), a holding company owned by Saudi Arabia's

Public Investment Fund The Public Investment Fund (PIF; ) is the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. It is among the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world with total estimated assets of billion. It was created in 1971 for the purpose of investing funds on be ...

, for a combined $1.5bn. As part of the acquisition, the two companies are set to merge and form the ESL FACEIT Group.

Esports Championship Series

In April 2016, FACEIT announced the launch of their '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' tournament, known as the Esports Championship Series (ECS). In April 2017, the company partnered with the video sharing platform

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

for the series. ECS was one of the two premier Counter-Strike leagues, along with

ESL Pro League The ESL Pro League (formerly ESL ESEA Pro League; shortened as EPL) is a ''Counter-Strike 2'' (CS2) professional esports league, produced by ESL (company), ESL. It was previously based on four regions: Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania but ...

. The series was discontinued in 2020, replaced by a franchise-based league called Flashpoint. It features 12 teams and a US$2,100,000 buy in spot, and offers co-ownership and revenue sharing to competing teams. In May 2022, FACEIT announced a multi-million dollar partnership agreement with the cryptocurrency fintech platform Cake DeFi. The agreement sees players participating in FACEIT matchups and tournaments to receive cryptocurrency rewards, with plans to pay more than half a million dollars to FACEIT users.

Results

FACEIT Major

On 22 February 2018

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or Slurry, slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically Pip ...

, the developers and owners of the Counter-Strike series, announced that FACEIT would host the thirteenth Global Offensive major, the FACEIT Major: London 2018. The event began in mid-September and concluded on 23 September 2018. It was the first Major hosted by FACEIT and the first Major hosted in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It had a 1,000,000 prize pool and the playoff stage was held in

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena () (originally the Empire Pool, currently known as OVO Energy, OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, Greater London, England. The 12,500-seat facility is Greater Lond ...

. In the finals,

Astralis Astralis is a Danish esports organization. Best known for their ''Counter-Strike 2'' team, they also have teams representing other games, such as ''FIFA'' and ''Rainbow Six Siege.'' The parent group of Astralis is the Astralis Group, who prev ...

defeated

Natus Vincere Natus Vincere (Latin for "born to win"), commonly referred as abbreviated name NAVI (formerly Na`Vi), is a Ukrainian esports organization based in Kyiv. Founded in 2009, the organization has teams and players competing in various games, such as ...

to win its second Major title.

References

{{Professional Counter-Strike competition 2012 establishments in England Esports leagues