Fnatic

Lore & Background

The organisation was founded on 23 July 2004 by Sam Mathews and Anne Mathews. After playing on Fnatic's Counter-Strike team for several years, Patrik "cArn" Sättermon became the chief gaming officer of Fnatic in 2012. Wouter Sleijffers replaced Anne Mathews as CEO in 2015, while Sam Mathews is the board chairman. Between 2008 and 2009, Fnatic was sponsored by MSI and SteelSeries, spurring a temporary name change to FnaticMSI. On 1 June 2011, Fnatic partnered with EIZO to launch their gaming monitors into the market. In 2006, Fnatic acquired a World of Warcraft team, Fnatic. WoW. In 2007, Fnatic acquired a DotA team, Fnatic. DotA. In 2008, Fnatic picked up a new DotA team. In 2010 FnaticMSI.HoN was restructured. In January 2012, Fnatic took on RaidCall as a sponsor. In 2012, Fnatic picked up the former GamersLeague Dota 2 team. In August 2014, Fnatic partnered with Luke Millanta to create a collection of cosmetic Counter Strike: Global Offensive weapon skins. In 2015, Fnatic announced a return to Dota 2, acquiring and sponsoring Team Malaysia. On 1 October 2015 sports betting website Dafabet became a sponsor of Fnatic. On 23 March 2017, Fnatic announced that it would be making a one-off return to Heroes of Newerth. On 6 October 2017, Fnatic joined the competitive Rocket League scene after acquiring the former roster of Leftovers. On 12 April 2018, Fnatic joined the competitive Rainbow Six Siege scene after acquiring the former roster of Mindfreak. The company has its headquarters in London, near the Silicon Roundabout at Old Street. Fnatic also runs an independent digital agency, Sannpa. In April 2019, Fnatic raised $19M in Series A funding round. In October 2019, Fnatic acquired Indian PUBG Mobile team Xspark. In November 2019, Fnatic announced a partnership with Sanrio. In October 2020, Fnatic announced a multi-year global partnership with Hisense and signed a multi-year partnership with BMW. In March 2021, Fnatic announced a renewal of partnership with LeTou. In November 2022, Fnatic launched its own music label, Fnatic Music. On 6 May 2024, the Esports World Cup Foundation announced Fnatic as one of the 30 organizations in the Club Support Program.

In Their Own Story

The air inside the arena is thick with tension, the hum of high-end servers barely audible over the roar of the crowd. On stage, five players in red and black jerseys sit motionless, eyes locked on their monitors. The round timer ticks down. A single headshot echoes through the stadium speakers, followed by the sharp crack of a second. Fnatic moves as one organism, executing a play perfected thousands of times in practice. In this moment, amidst the digital smoke and gunfire, they are not just players; they are the guardians of a legacy.

Reader's Guide

Fnatic's Counter-Strike team, which has traditionally been located in Sweden, won the first ever CS:GO Major in 2013 and two more between 2013 and 2015. After a series of poor results dating back to the start of 2021, Fnatic made a move towards an international roster for the first time since 2013. Fnatic entered the Counter-Strike competitive scene in 2004, when the team was founded by Freek "FraK" Tammelling. The initial roster, led by Benjamin "diGitaL" Hildén, managed to win CPL Singapore 2005. At the beginning of 2006, Fnatic released the entire line-up except for sniper Harley "dsn" Örwall, who recruited Patrik "cArn" Sättermon, Oscar "Archi" Torgersen, Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg and Kristoffer "Tentpole" Nordlund. This line-up won many major events in 2006, culminating with a 1st-place finish at CPL Winter 2006. In 2011, Fnatic's Counter-Strike team placed top three in many events with Michael "Friis" Jørgensen. cArn gained a reputation as one of Counter-Strike's premier in-game leaders from 2006 to 2012. In March 2012, he announced his retirement and became chief gaming officer. Xizt took on the role of in-game leader, replacing cArn with Finn "karrigan" Andersen. The new team won their first major LAN event at Copenhagen Games 2012. After Fnatic won 2012 DreamHack Summer and the Swedish Championships, Rasmus "Gux" Stahl retired. On 26 June, Fnatic announced Martin "trace" Heldt would join. In August, Richard "Xizt" Landstorm left to play CS:GO for NiP; Emil "FYRR73" Karlsson was announced as his replacement. When Fnatic switched to CS:GO, they became one of the top teams. In late 2013, Fnatic won the first ever major tournament in CS:GO, under Markus "pronax" Wallsten. In 2014, Fnatic took in Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer and Freddy "KRIMZ" Johansson. They won ESL One Katowice 2015 and ESL One Cologne 2015. In November 2015, pronax took a hiatus and was replaced with Dennis "dennis" Edman. In December 2015, Fnatic beat NIP 2–1 and secured their second Fragbite Masters win.

Did You Know?

• Fnatic won the first League of Legends World Championship in 2011.
• Fnatic held the record for most LEC titles from 2011 to 2020.
• According to Forbes, Fnatic is worth $260 million as of 2022.
• Fnatic has claimed more than 200 championship victories across 30 different games since 2004.