WePlay Esports

WePlay Esports is an esports media holding company that started off as an esports tournament operator. The company is focused on developing IT solutions and a proprietary tournament platform, integrating brands into esports, and media rights sales. WePlay Esports hosts tournaments in CS:GO, Dota 2, League of Legends, and Teamfight Tactics. More recently in September 2021, it also launched its first-ever Rocket League tournament. It has hosted numerous LAN tournaments since its inception while its online tournaments mainly feature European and CIS teams, it has hosted one Southeast Asian and North American tournament. The company has offices in the US, China, the UK, and Ukraine.

In November 2020, WePlay Esports’ parent company, TECHIIA Holdings, merged the assets of WP Merchandise, a retailer of licensed esports and gaming related merchandise, and FS Holdings, developer of esports merch retailer, FragStore. TECHIIA also announced plans to invest between USD 14 and USD 30 million across the two brands in the following three years. As a result of the merger, FS holdings will distribute products of WP Merchandise across CIS countries, Ukraine, other countries in Europe and the US. 

In February 2021, the company—together with former boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk—invested USD 25 million in WePlay Ultimate Fighting League (WUFL). However, in April 2021, the company reportedly lost its publisher partners for its Ultimate Fighting League, NetheRealm Studios and Bandai Namco Esports. The Ultimate Fighting League featured multiple games from the publishers such as Soulcalibur VI, Tekken 7, and Mortal Kombat 11. The publishers’ announcements cite diverging visions and professional standards as a key reason to disallow the use of their games in the tournament. Reports from people close to the matter reveal that the recently announced partnership between WePlay and 1xBet could be the root of the situation. 1xBet allegedly engaged in malpractice, leading to its UK website being taken down as a result of an investigation into its global activities. 

WePlay launched its new CS:GO competition, the WePlay Academy League (WAL) with a USD 100,000 prize pool, in July 2021. The launch was part of its broader strategy to develop a grassroots esports ecosystem. Teams Astralis Talent, Fnatic Rising, and Young Ninjas are some of the teams taking part in the competition.