Gfinity partners with BT Sport

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11 May 2020

Gfinity plc

("Gfinity" or the "Company")

Gfinity partners with BT Sport to deliver new "BT Sport FIFA Challenge" series

Gfinity plc (AIM: GFIN), a leading esports and gaming solutions provider, announces it has partnered with BT Sport to co-produce a new entertainment based competitive gaming series, "The BT Sport FIFA Challenge". The partnership will leverage a combination of Gfinity's expertise in producing and operating high-quality competitive gaming tournaments with BT Sport's industry-leading remote production capabilities and extensive presentation team, to create the six-episode series. The competition uses the EA Sports FIFA20 game and will feature sports stars such as Robbie Savage, Joe Cole and Ugo Monye, plus Chelcee Grimes, singer, songwriter and Fulham Ladies player, will captain a Women's team.

Gfinity and BT Sport will co-produce the series with each episode produced remotely using BT's newly developed remote technology.  Under the partnership, Gfinity and BT Sport will also work together to oversee the gaming content and competition elements of the show.

"The BT Sport FIFA Challenge" is a four-team tournament captained by members of the BT Sport football and rugby talent.  The series began with a draft show that aired on Friday 8 May 2020, in which each squad was placed on the clock to select their FIFA 20 team.  Friday's show will be followed by five one-hour episodes and all episodes will be shown on BT Sport, culminating in the GRAND FINAL which will be aired on Friday 5 June. 

The two companies will continue to work together to create new esports and gaming based content shows once "The BT Sport FIFA Challenge" has aired.

John Clarke, CEO of Gfinity said: "A key part of our strategy is to create new and compelling content and we are delighted to be working with BT Sport to bring a new gaming entertainment show to sports fans. Virtual gaming shows are capturing the imagination of fans across the globe as they enable them to connect with their sporting heroes like never before. We have seen this with the products we have created for Formula 1, across our eCricket series and now with FIFA20. This is the first of a number of gaming show formats Gfinity will be developing with BT Sport in the months ahead."

Jamie Hindhaugh, COO BT Sport, said: "Lockdown has meant that we have been

looking at new content and formats to give our viewers their sport fix while there is no live sport.  The good news is that this has accelerated our esports plans with Gfinity and we'll be kicking this off in May, using our market leading remote production capabilities, with a fun, chat based, FIFA gaming format with plenty of competition between our BT Sport teams that we hope our viewers will enjoy."

ENDS

About Gfinity

Gfinity is a world leading esports business. Created by gamers for the world's 2.2 billion gamers, Gfinity has a unique understanding of this fast-growing global community.  It uses this expertise to provide both advisory services and to design, develop and deliver unparalleled experiences and winning strategies for game publishers, sports rights holders, commercial partners and media companies.

Gfinity connects its partners with the esports community in authentic and innovative ways. This consists of on and off-line competitions and industry leading content production. Relationships include EA SPORTS, Activision Blizzard, F1 Esports Series and the Forza Racing Championship.

Gfinity connects directly with competitive gaming consumers through its growing community of gamers and its owned competition platform, the "Gfinity Elite Series".

All Gfinity services are underpinned by the Company's proprietary technology platform delivering a level playing field for all competitors and supporting scalable multi-format leagues, ladders and knock out competitions.