Sky is leveraging its Gigafast 900Mbps full fibre home broadband service to make a major play in the eSports world.
The full fibre broadband service, which guarantees 600Mbps and lets users connect more than 120 devices at a time, will underpin the efforts of the London-based Guild eSports team and organisation.
The Guild squad, which is co-owned by former England football captain David Beckham, will use the Gigafast service at its eSports performance centre in trendy Shoreditch.
Sky says the “reliable and game-changing speeds” will give the professional players representing Guild “an edge as they learn train and compete online.” Together, the pair will push for greater opportunities for women in eSports, with Guild launching a new all-female Rocket League team to build on the success of the current all-female Valorant team.
Rory Moran, Director of Global Partnerships at Guild Esports, said: “This landmark partnership is built on a shared vision for success and a commitment to driving the esports sector forward, through initiatives powering women in gaming. Not only does this partnership represent Guild’s successes to date and plans for the future but it’s also a testament to the values that sit at our core.”
There’ll also be exclusive competitions for Sky Broadband customers. Sky says there are 17 million gamers playing for more than seven hours a week in the UK, with participation in competitive gaming continuing to grow. Sky says it wants to do for eSports what it did for the television industry in the UK, with its satellite revolution more than 30 years ago.
Stephen van Rooyen, Sky UK and Europe EVP & CEO, UK said: “Sky transformed the way families watch TV, now we want to transform the gaming experience. In esports every second counts, so Sky’s full fibre broadband will be perfect for Guild’s gaming HQ. Speed and reliability, hallmarks of Sky’s broadband service, will give the Guild team and gamers across the nation the edge over the competition.”
Sky’s Gigafast speeds are a whopping 25-times faster than its standard fibre option, which tops out at 36Mbps, meaning there’s plenty of bandwidth for gaming and streaming at the same time. “Gigafast lets you download games and buffer large game updates all at the same time, in every room,” Sky boldly claimed when launching the service in April this year.
Those game-changing speeds come at a cost with a £55 per month fee for the first 18 months, but for the busiest connected homes, it remains one of the finer options available to Brits.
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