Global teams organisation and lifestyle brand Guild Esports have announced the launch of its new all-female team to compete in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, a leading team-based first-person shooter.
This marks the company’s first entry into esports, with Guild leaning on the all-women team as part of its strategy to encourage greater participation from females in esports amid growing interest from brand owners, young fans and players. We are already seeing gender diversity issues in Web3 and Esports has also shown similar problems with female players receiving less pay and opportunities.
However, creating all-female teams such as this is helping pave the way for future esports competitors. This is Guild’s second all-female team following its roster for VALORANT, which launched in 2021. The VALORANT Guild X team has become a great success for the company since launching and winning the VCT Game Changer EMEA Series 3 in October 2022. This newly formed team for CS:GO will compete under the name Guild.
CS:GO team
Despite launching in 2012, CS:GO has remained a popular title, especially among competitive gaming players. Counter-Strikes audience numbers continue to climb, with CS:GO tournaments accumulating 450 million hours watched in 2022, an increase of 8.8% in 2021. Guild Esports believes that its entry into this massively popular game will not only open new revenue streams in the future but also be a great platform for the new team.
Guild’s team consists of team captain Kaia ‘Kiki’ Holmen, Marita ‘Minne’ Sørensen, Thea ‘Pullox’ Evensen, Linnea ‘Nea’ Claesson and Anna ‘Ann4’ Laurinoviča. The five members are part of an existing team and therefore have extensive experience competing together, with members KiKi, Minnie and Pullox continuing to compete for Norway’s national CS:GO team in international tournaments which will bring new visibility and increased audience growth all-round.
The team will debut for Guild by competing in the ESL Impact Circuit, a women-only CS:GO League with a combined annual prize pool of $500,000. The tournament was created to provide a competitive environment for the top CS:GO women’s teams as part of ESL’s inclusion and female empowerment campaign. The team will also compete in the ESEA Open, aiming to be promoted from ESEA’S Open Division to the Intermediate Division by the end of the year.
Equality in esports
CEO of Guild esports, Jasmine Skee commented, “This International Women’s Day, we’re delighted to launch a high-flying, all-female team to spearhead our entry into the CS:GO arena. With female participation rapidly growing in many other competitive sports such as football and rugby, we feel this is the right time for us to recruit top talent for CS:GO. It will enable Guild to grow its audience, reach new demographics and continue to provide high-level opportunities for women in the esports space.”
The Guild CS:GO team will join Guild Esports existing teams competing in titles such as FIFA, Fortnite, Rocket league and VALORANT. Guild will be looking to achieve success similar to that seen of the VALORANT GUILD X team and climb the competitive ranks of esports.
Guild’s CS:GO team captain Kiki said “We intend to compete at the highest levels of Counter-Strike and Guild is the perfect place to achieve this. With leading facilities, high-quality coaching staff and a state-of-the-art headquarters, Guild gives us the opportunity to learn and grow as a team in a supportive environment. It’s not just the facilities and coaching – Guild’s long-term commitment to supporting women in esports reassures us that we will be a close cultural fit. We’re excited to bring Guild into CS:GO for the first time and hope to make the whole company proud.”
Paige Cook is a writer with a multi-media background. She has experience covering video games and technology and also has freelance experience in video editing, graphic design, and photography. Paige is a massive fan of the movie industry and loves a good TV show, if she is not watching something interesting then she's probably playing video games or buried in a good book. Her latest addiction is virtual photography and currently spends far too much time taking pretty pictures in games rather than actually finishing them.
