ESL FACEIT Group Acquires Vindex to Strengthen Position as Global Leader in Esports & Video Game Entertainment

ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) announces the acquisition of Vindex.

The acquisition strengthens EFG´s ability to unite and engage more players, fans and creators around the esports and video games they love and brings new levels of scale to experiences in wider geographies. Together, EFG and Vindex will leverage their collective talent, expertise and complementary technology stacks to drive innovation for publishers, brands and video game communities around the world.

“The unmatched expertise and talent of our combined teams are the catalyst to drive our mission to build worlds beyond gameplay around the games fans love,” says Craig Levine, co-CEO of ESL FACEIT Group. “The combination with Vindex brings together the power of our brands with a new scale in infrastructure and production capabilities. As one, this will help serve new communities of gamers and accelerate gaming culture globally.”

“By joining forces with EFG, we are bringing together the best of video games and esports under one roof. EFG is the global leader in the industry and being part of the ESL FACEIT Group will allow us to not only expand our global footprint but also leverage our complementary technology stack to deliver a comprehensive suite of products and services to drive engagement,” says Mike Sepso, CEO of Vindex. “Together, we are best positioned to accelerate our growth plans and scale our offering for publishers, brands and gamers worldwide.”

Vindex’s portfolio of esports infrastructure companies offers end-to-end solutions to serve the video games industry. Esports Engine leads in video game, esports and creator-driven content production across broadcast, physical and metaverse events and Vindex Intelligence Platform provides brands, publishers and creators with robust omnichannel consumer data and analytics.

By leveraging their combined strengths, EFG, operating under Savvy Games Group (Savvy), and Vindex offer an expanded breadth of solutions and capabilities to meet the evolving needs of the video games industry and the growing global gamer audience. Benefits of the transaction include:

• Combined expertise building innovative video game ecosystems uniting players, fans, teams and creators.
• Strengthened geographic footprint of event production and studio capabilities across the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific and Japan to drive modern engagement of the digital generation.
• Added expertise to build out and grow DreamHack festivals in the United States.
• Deepened broadcast and consumer insights through VIP to inform and better design content and experiences for gamers globally.

Vindex companies Esports Engine and Vindex Intelligence Platform will be part of EFG and continue to provide existing world-class solutions and services to their partners and clients, and will benefit from additional resources leveraged from the wider ESL FACEIT Group. As part of the transaction, Belong Gaming Arenas will become a stand-alone entity and will continue to operate independently. Mike Sepso will continue to serve as CEO and Sundance DiGiovanni as Chief Strategy Officer at Vindex while taking on leadership roles within EFG.

The transaction closed on February 17, 2023. Financial terms were not disclosed. Goldman Sachs acted as exclusive financial advisor to ESL FACEIT Group and Savvy Games, the parent company of ESL FACEIT Group, on the transaction. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC acted as financial advisor to Vindex LLC.