FACEIT

FACEIT is an esports platform that hosts competitive matchmaking, leagues and tournaments for online multiplayer titles. It has administered competition for games including Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Counter-Strike 2, League of Legends, Rocket League, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, Dota 2, Team Fortress 2 and Overwatch, with its current supported line-up also covering Overwatch 2, Valorant and Deadlock. The platform serves players, tournament organisers, game developers and brands, covering competitive gaming from grassroots play through to professional-level events.

The consumer product combines ranked matchmaking with an Elo-based rating system (including seasonal soft Elo resets and performance metrics such as FACEIT Rating and Round Swing), an anti-cheat client, subscriptions, a shop, clubs and social features, organiser tooling for running tournaments, and league products including the FACEIT League, ESEA and FPL. Account features include two-factor authentication and an ID verification system used to protect platform integrity.

Alongside its platform business, FACEIT has operated large-scale competitive circuits. It launched the Esports Championship Series (ECS) for CS:GO in April 2016, ran eight seasons through 2019 with finals in London, Anaheim, Cancún and Arlington and prize pools reported at up to US$945,000, and partnered with YouTube for the series in 2017. Valve selected FACEIT to host the thirteenth CS:GO Major, the FACEIT Major: London 2018, which had a US$1,000,000 prize pool and concluded at Wembley Arena in September 2018.

Founding story

Niccolo Maisto, Michele Attisani and Alessandro Avallone started the company around 2011-2012 in London, beginning with an early idea for a platform serving competitive multiplayer gamers and iterating with a community of early adopters to shorten product feedback loops.

Business model

FACEIT operates a competitive gaming platform monetised through consumer subscription packages, a merchandise shop, advertising, and sponsorship/partnership arrangements around its leagues and tournaments, alongside working with game publishers and organisers.

Revenue sources referenced include player subscriptions, a shop, advertising, and commercial partnerships, including a multi-million dollar agreement announced in May 2022 with cryptocurrency fintech platform Cake DeFi.

Traction

FACEIT has been reported at over 25 million users, and more than 30 million users playing over 30 million game sessions per month. It has run eight ECS seasons and hosted a CS:GO Major with a US$1,000,000 prize pool.

Latest developments

Following the 2022 merger into the ESL FACEIT Group under Savvy Gaming Group, the platform has continued iterating on its ranking system, introducing FACEIT Rating and the Round Swing metric with Season 8 in April and a lighter, personalised soft Elo reset with Season 9 beginning 5 August.