Press release -
ESL UK Battle of the Brands raises £16,000 for SpecialEffect
Charity derby exceeds funding target of £10,000, with Team SCAN crowned the first Battle of the Brands champion
(London, UK) 30 January, 2018 - ESL UK today announced the results of Battle of the Brands, the inaugural charity derby held on 13 January. Teams from four of the UK’s largest tech specialists took part in the competition, with £16,729 total raised for UK gaming charity SpecialEffect.
Staff from Ebuyer Gaming, SCAN, Box.co.uk and PC Specialist competed in Battle of the Brands, facing off across five games including FIFA, Rocket League, and CS:GO. The initial funding target of £10,000 was quickly exceeded by more than 80 donations from fans and industry supporters, including OMEN by HP, AORUS by GIGABYTE, Acer UK, Regen, and BenQ Zowie. A full list of donors can be found at esl.pm/botb.
More than 222,000 fans tuned in to watch the competition on Twitch, which also reached more than a million people across Facebook and Twitter. Planning is now underway for ESL UK to host further similar charitable events in the future.
“What started as a jokey Twitter war turned into a great opportunity to raise funds and awareness for the important work of SpecialEffect, “ commented James Dean, managing director at ESL UK. “It’s just fantastic to have such a great reaction from the community. My sincere thanks to everyone who donated, and to the teams themselves for participating.”
“Never in our wildest dreams did we think a daft tweet would turn into something so amazing,” said Steve James, esports and gaming marketing manager, Ebuyer Gaming. “The UK gaming community really is special and hopefully this is the start of something huge that will live on for years to come.”
“We were totally bowled over by the response to the first ever Battle of the Brands,” said Tom Donegan, event coordinator, SpecialEffect. “The passion and generosity shown by everyone in coming together to support their fellow gamers was incredible to see. The money and awareness raised will provide a massive boost to SpecialEffect as we set-out to help even more severely disabled people with their technology needs this year. A huge thank you to all the teams, sponsors, donors and ESL for hosting such an incredible event - we can’t wait for the next one!”
For more information about the ESL please contact:
Ravi Vijh
ravi@bastion.co.uk
Becky Mullen
becky@bastion.co.uk
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About ESL
ESL, a part of the international digital entertainment group MTG, is the world's largest esports company, leading the industry across the most popular video games with numerous online and offline competitions. It operates high profile, branded international and national leagues and tournaments such as the Intel® Extreme Masters, ESL One, ESL National Championships and other top tier stadium-size events, as well as grassroots amateur cups, leagues and matchmaking systems. ESL covers a broad field of services in gaming technology, event management, advertising and television production, fully catering to the needs of the esports ecosystem. With offices in North America, Germany, Russia, France, Poland, Spain, China, and partners in many other countries, it has a truly global footprint (www.eslgaming.com).
About SpecialEffect
SpecialEffect are putting fun and inclusion back into the lives of people with physical disabilities by helping them to play video games. By using technology ranging from modified games controllers to eye-control, they’re finding a way for people to play to the very best of their abilities. But they’re not just doing it for fun. By levelling the playing field, they’re bringing families and friends together and having a profoundly positive impact on inclusion, confidence and rehabilitation.
