Astralis

Modern Times Group (MTG) is an entertainment company established in 1987 with interests in esports and gaming. In September 2015, MTG acquired 74% (and later upped its stake to 82% in 2018) of Turtle Entertainment, an esports tournament and media production company operating the Electronic Sports League (ESL). The acquisition elevated MTG’s ambitions to become a leader in digital content entertainment. 

The ESL is one of the largest esports companies in the world with organized online and offline tournaments such as ESL One, Intel Extreme Masters, and the ESL Pro League. As of September 2020, ESL’s tournament platforms have 8.4 million members with 109,000 tournaments played. MTG also acquired DreamHack, an esports events organizer, for USD 32 million in 2015 and in September 2020 merged the two brands under one umbrella called “ESL Gaming”. Further, MTG has equity interest in esports tournament platform Boom.tv since 2017. In March 2022, ESL Gaming announced its multi-year agreement with wireless technology company Qualcomm to launch a mobile competitive gaming league.  The global competition, dubbed the Snapdragon Pro Series, is expected to feature USD 2 million in prize money across three tiers of competition. 

MTG announced the launch of a mobile esports ecosystem across North America, Europe/MENA, and Asia Pacific in March 2021. The new launch is in partnership with game publishers and developers Gameloft, Riot, Supercell, and Tencent. The launch is expected to  extend the companies’ reach to more than 80 countries across gaming titles such as Asphalt 9: Legends, Brawl Stars, Clash of Clans, and Clash Royale. The announcement follows multiple attempts by ESL to widen its reach and includes the launch of a global esports competition across North America, Europe, and Asia, in partnership with audio equipment manufacturer JBL (November 2020), and a partnership with Guinevere Capital to introduce League of Legends esports infrastructure for the Oceania region (December 2020).

MTG agreed to sell ESL Gaming to Saudi Arabian Government-backed investment company Savvy Gaming Group (SGG) for  USD 1 billion in January 2022. The company is to be merged with FaceIT, which SGG simultaneously purchased for USD 500 million. The acquisition is expected to close in Q2 2022 pending regulatory clearance. The merged entity will be led by a mix of ESL and FACEIT management. Craig Levine (CEO, ESL) and Niccolo Maisto (CEO, FACEIT) will serve as co-CEOs, while ESL co-founder Ralf Reicher will be executive chairman.

In 2021, MTG reported 5% YoY growth in esports net sales to SEK 1.4 billion (approx. USD 160 million). The segment adjusted EBITDA loss worsened to SEK 195 (approx. USD 23 million) from SEK 163 million (approx. USD 18 million) in 2020.