Some of the biggest names from esports have been included in the top 100 most influential people in the British games industry.
The list – compiled by GamesIndustry.biz – recognised the following seven people from across esports (clockwise from top-left):
- Sam Mathews, Fnatic founder
- Craig “Wizzo” Fletcher, Multiplay founder and SVP of esports at GAME
- Michael “ODEE” O’Dell, Team Dignitas president
- Ed Vaizey, eGames chairman
- Chris “MingLee” Mead, Twitch EMEA director of partnerships
- Spike Laurie, ESL senior director
- Veronique Lallier, Hi-Rez Studios general manager for Europe
ODEE and Sam Mathews also spoke briefly about esports in the UK.
“We are so far behind other countries,” ODEE said.
Sam added: “I think the trick is moving UK esports away from a fixation on console. Then we might start to get more competitive.”
The list was revealed in the a GamesIndustry.biz magazine which is being handed out at the Rezzed gaming festival this week at London’s Tobacco Docks.
The magazine tells the back story of each person and highlights some of their individual achievements made over the years.
Other people in the top 100 list include UK games industry stalwarts Andy Payne and Ian Livingstone, GAME CEO Martyn Gibbs and UKIE CEO Jo Twist to name a few.
The list focuses mainly on the executive/director level of the games publishing and development industry, as opposed to a list of popular gamers or YouTubers/streamers.
GamesIndustry tweeted this earlier in the week:
The https://t.co/Mz1KhrAeuF Mag is out tomorrow. Grab it at EGX Rezzed or at several London Games Festival events https://t.co/twJbpWQXvV pic.twitter.com/wUckUYwC0z
— GamesIndustry (@GIBiz) March 29, 2017
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
