In a shock announcement, Gfinity Esports Australia has confirmed it will cease its operations in the country by the end of November. Best known for its Gfinity Elite Series – which hit Australia across two events in 2018 and 2019 – Gfinity also collaborated with the Hoyts Cinemas chain on the launch of a dedicated esports arena in Sydney.
But according to a statement issued, the local esports market "has not developed to the level forecast when the company was launched in 2017".
"This is a very difficult announcement for all our staff," Gfinity Esports Australia CEO Dominic Remond said in a statement. "We will continue to meet our obligations to our existing partners, including Supercars with the upcoming Gfinity Supercars Eseries, and deliver outstanding events until we close later this year."
The Supercars Eseries will finish up in late November, marking the final activity for the company's local wing.
Here, There & Everywhere (HT&E) is the parent company of Gfinity Esports Australia, with subsidiaries ranging the Australian Radio Network and Emotive, among many others. According to a report in Mumbrella, the company reported a $5.3m loss at the end of the last financial year.
"Esports remains an exciting industry with significant global interest and activity and HT&E believes it will become a mainstream and significant content-audience-commercial medium in the long term," HT&E Chief Executive Ciaran Davis said in a statement.
"But our absolute focus is on our core radio business and the economics of esports in the Australian market are yet to deliver sustainable, positive earnings."
