Guild, a U.K.-based organization co-owned by former soccer star David Beckham, has entered VALORANT, Fortnite, FIFA, and Rocket League since its creation in June 2020. But it’s never signed a Counter-Strike squad, even though the organization started a consulting partnership with analyst Duncan “Thorin” Shields in November 2020 to help Guild build its CS:GO team and give advice on players and staff.
Guild was the first esports organization to be featured on the London Stock Exchange, essentially becoming a public company. That, in part, led to the organization moving away from entering CS:GO, the organization’s CEO Kal Hourd said in an interview with Dexerto.
“We announced that we were looking into CS:GO, we had an interest in entering and still do, but there’s been a lot of changes on the CS:GO front and our attention has been pulled in other areas,” Hourd said, likely referring to the toll the coronavirus pandemic has put on the professional scene. Most of the CS:GO tournaments nowadays are played online from Europe instead of being held on LAN in front of a live crowd and the players’ salaries and buyouts keep getting higher.
“We promised our shareholders that we were going to make smart decisions and we were going to enter titles that made sense,” Hourd said. “There are some other titles that we’re excited about but we’re still considering CS:GO.”
Hourd didn’t comment on the organization’s plans for the future, but he said Guild is interested in EA and Riot Games’ esports, as well as some other titles that are popular outside of the U.K. Guild lost £4.3 million ($5.89 million) over a six-month period that ended on March 31, 2021, following investments in teams, content creators, and a new academy initiative, so CS:GO fans can’t really blame the organization for trying to be smart with its business.
