Sky and Guild Announce the First UK Women’s Tourney Series

Sky Broadcast partners up with Guild Esports and is about to kick off the UK’s first women-only Esports tourney series. Learn everything you need to know about this first-of-its-kind event series.

We are happy to announce that British broadcasting heavyweight Sky Broadcast is partnering up with Guild Esports to bring the first women’s only Esports tournament series to the UK.

That’s right, the David Beckham-backed esports organization is teaming up with Sky to bring two open tournaments that aim to showcase women from all over the United Kingdom. The tournaments will also feature a £50.000 prize pool spread across both series’ and the opportunity to get signed as a pro. But let’s get into the details.

David Beckham’s Esports Organization Teams up With Sky Broadcasting to Host the UK’s First Women’s Only Esport Tournament Series

To say that women in esports is a sorry affair would be an understatement. Recent studies showed that less than 5% of Esports pros are women despite making up 47% of gamers in the UK. Esports has been a boys club for a long long time and we have a long, sad history of harassment towards female and other athletes to look back to.

So to have a broadcasting giant like Sky teaming up with one of the United Kingdom’s biggest groups is a huge step forward. In a press release sent to ESTNN, Sky Connectivity Managing Director Amber Pine stated the following:

“At Sky Broadband we’re committed to powering the gaming community, and we want to help ensure it’s an equal playing field for all. We’re creating new, safe, and equal opportunities for woman gamers, working with Guild Esports for the past two years to achieve this ambition. This first-of-its-kind initiative opens up new avenues to help women go pro, with contracts and cash prizes up for grabs.”

Quite a strong statement. A recent research by Bryter found out that half of female gamers find that the industry isn’t doing enough to promote women in the space and that gaming communities aren’t exactly welcoming towards them.

Numbers that echo loud and clear certain cultural aspects in the gaming space which we see bounce around in esports and the larger space whenever the topic of diversity comes up.

Two Eseries to Cumulate in a Grand Final Broadcasted Live on Sky

The tournament series is split between two series. A Racers Series which will take place between Apil 26 and May 19, will focus on a racing SIM competition held offline and online. The events will crown 10 finalists who will move on to compete at the big Women’s Esports Finals held at the Sky Headquarters.

A second tournament will be the Soccer Eseries which’s circuit will be announced later this year. This large-scale esports football tournament will crown 4 winners which will then go on to compete at the final event later this year.

The final event will be held later this year, playing out tournaments between the winners of both series’ at the Sky headquarters which will be live-streamed to the world. The winners of each respective tournament will compete for the aforementioned £50.000 prize pool as well as a contract, presumed with Guild Esports itself.

It seems like the event will be some sort of open tournament as well. As long as you are a resident of the UK and over the age of 18, you are able to sign up for both tournaments at https://www.sky.com/broadband/gaming.

We’ll of course have more on this esports event with all the dates and how you can catch up on the action very soon here on ESTNN