Fnatic (said "fanatic"; also written as fnatic or FNATIC) is a professional esports organization based in London, England. It was founded on July 23, 2004, and has players from many countries who compete in several video games.
Fnatic's League of Legends team plays in the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) and is one of the most successful teams in the league. The team won the first League of Legends World Championship in 2011. From 2011 to 2020, it held the record for the most LEC titles.
Fnatic's Counter-Strike team, which was traditionally based in Sweden, won the first-ever CS:GO Major in 2013 and two more between 2013 and 2015. After having many poor results starting in 2021, Fnatic changed its roster to include players from around the world for the first time since 2013.
Since its founding in 2004, Fnatic has won more than 200 championships across 30 different games. According to Forbes, Fnatic is valued at $260 million as of 2022 and is among the top 10 most valuable esports companies.
History
The organization was founded on July 23, 2004, by Sam Mathews and Anne Mathews. After playing on Fnatic's Counter-Strike team for many years, Patrik "cArn" Sättermon became the chief gaming officer of Fnatic in 2012. In 2015, Wouter Sleijffers took over as CEO, while Sam Mathews remained the board chairman.
From 2008 to 2009, Fnatic was sponsored by MSI and SteelSeries, causing a temporary name change to FnaticMSI. On June 1, 2011, Fnatic partnered with EIZO to introduce their gaming monitors to the market.
In 2006, Fnatic bought a World of Warcraft team called Fnatic. WoW. Players TooGood, Vo0, and Ztrider returned to represent Fnatic in the World of Warcraft 3v3 community. The Fnatic. WoW division achieved top finishes in events such as BlizzCon, Intel Extreme Masters (IEM), and Major League Gaming (MLG).
In 2007, Fnatic acquired a DotA team named Fnatic. DotA, represented by Ritter "Ritter" Rusli, Romi "melen" Gunawan, Ariyanto "Lakuci" Sony, Sugiarto "BaHaMuT" Cahyadi, and Jeffry "Neo" Lu. This team was previously known as XcN DotA.
In 2008, Fnatic added a new DotA team with players Edvin "Kwom" Börjesson, Jonathan "Loda" Berg, Rasmus "Misery" Berth, Rene "Kebap-" Werner, and Aringazin "Aidar" Aidar.
In 2010, FnaticMSI.HoN was restructured with players Johan "N0tail" Sundstein, Kalle "Trixi" Saarinen, Henrik "Freshpro" Hansen, Jascha "Nova" Markuse, and Tal "Fly" Aizik.
In January 2012, Fnatic took on RaidCall as a sponsor. With this new sponsor, Fnatic expanded into South Korea and became the first non-Korean esports team to own a professional gaming house in Seoul.
In 2012, Fnatic acquired the former GamersLeague Dota 2 team to compete with top teams. The team placed fourth in ESWC but later left Fnatic.
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 by acquiring and sponsoring Team Malaysia. On October 1, 2015, sports betting website Dafabet became a sponsor of Fnatic.
On March 23, 2017, Fnatic announced a one-time return to Heroes of Newerth with an all-Swedish roster of Makke, iNsaniA, Xibbe, Boxi, and miCKe. The team competed at the HonTour Season 5 World Finals in Bangkok. On April 2, 2017, Fnatic won HonTour Season 5, defeating [MiXs] Phoenix MiXs in the grand finals.
On October 6, 2017, Fnatic joined the competitive Rocket League scene after acquiring the former roster of Leftovers. On April 12, 2018, Fnatic joined the competitive Rainbow Six Siege scene after acquiring the former roster of Mindfreak.
The company's headquarters is in London, near the Silicon Roundabout at Old Street. Its senior management team includes a CEO, CGO, Sales Director, Accounts Director, and Head of Creative Services.
Fnatic also runs an independent digital agency, Sannpa, for businesses interested in esports.
In April 2019, Fnatic raised $19 million in a Series A funding round and restructured its leadership to plan a major expansion in Asia and North America.
In October 2019, Fnatic acquired the Indian PUBG Mobile team Xspark, consisting of Sc0utOP, Ronak, Paritosh, Owais, and InYoDream. Fnatic disbanded the team in March 2021.
In November 2019, Fnatic partnered with Japanese company Sanrio to create content and merchandise around its Hello Kitty brand.
In October 2020, Fnatic announced a multi-year global partnership with Chinese company Hisense. The same year, Fnatic signed a multi-year partnership with BMW.
In March 2021, Fnatic renewed its partnership with online gaming service LeTou and became an official sponsor for their DOTA 2 squad.
In November 2022, Fnatic launched its own music label, Fnatic Music. This happened at the same time as the release of the album Fnatic Island Vol. 1.
On May 6, 2024, the Esports World Cup Foundation, funded by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund and organizers of the Esports World Cup tournament series, announced the 30 organizations (called Clubs in the ESWC) that would join the Club Support Program. Fnatic was one of these organizations. This program provides a one-time six-figure stipend to teams willing to enter new esports and additional funding each year if they
Current divisions
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, won CPL Singapore 2005 but struggled to make much of an impact at other international events. At the beginning of 2006, Fnatic released the entire line-up except for sniper Harley "dsn" Örwall, who was tasked to assemble a new roster. Örwall recruited Patrik "cArn" Sättermon, the in-game leader of Eyeballers; Oscar "Archi" Torgersen, from Team GoN; and Begrip duo Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg and Kristoffer "Tentpole" Nordlund. This line-up won many major events in 2006, ending with a 1st-place finish at CPL Winter 2006. In 2011, Fnatic's Counter-Strike team placed top three in many events with their newly acquired player, Michael "Friis" Jørgensen. This led to dropping many uncontracted players such as Qet (Counter-Strike), Lauke (UT), and Vo0 (Q3).
cArn gained a reputation as one of Counter-Strike's premier in-game leaders and strategy callers from 2006 to 2012 due to his ability to lead several completely different Fnatic rosters to major tournament wins. However, in March 2012, he announced his surprise retirement before the IEM Season VI World Finals, becoming the first chief gaming officer for Fnatic. Xizt took on the role of the in-game leader, replacing cArn with Finn "karrigan" Andersen, another Danish player. The new team won their first major LAN event at Copenhagen Games 2012. On the same weekend, FnaticRC.aLive won his first ever major tournament at IPL4 Las Vegas.
After Fnatic won 2012 DreamHack Summer and the Swedish Championships, Rasmus "Gux" Stahl retired from Counter-Strike, leaving an open spot in Fnatic. On 26 June, Fnatic announced that Martin "trace" Heldt would join the team. In August, Richard "Xizt" Landstorm left the team to play CS:GO for NiP; Emil "FYRR73" Karlsson was announced as his replacement.
When Fnatic switched to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, they became one of the top teams in the world. To complete the roster, Fnatic announced that Xyp9x and JOKERN would join them to compete in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The team finished in the 3rd/4th position of the EMS Season 1 Finals.
In late 2013, Fnatic won the first ever major tournament in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, under the guidance of their new leader, Markus "pronax" Wallsten, defeating the team Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP). In 2014, Fnatic took in 2 ex-LGB players, Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer and Freddy "KRIMZ" Johansson. They won ESL One Katowice 2015 after defeating NIP, and on 24 August 2015, Fnatic won ESL One Cologne 2015 after defeating Team EnVyUs. Because of this roster's back-to-back major wins and eleven other international titles, some consider this Fnatic team to be the strongest roster ever assembled in the history of CS:GO.
In November 2015, after a few disappointing tournament performances, pronax decided to take a hiatus from competitive CS:GO. He was replaced with Dennis "dennis" Edman from international team G2 Esports. In December 2015, Fnatic beat NIP 2–1 and secured their second Fragbite Masters win, the other being in season 3. Fnatic regained the #1 position in HLTV's team rankings after the tournament and remained the #1 ranked team in the world until 18 April 2016.
In April 2016, olofmeister suffered a wrist injury, and John "wenton" Eriksson took his place temporarily.
On 15 August 2016, Fnatic announced that Robin "flusha" Rönnquist, Jesper "JW" Wecksell, and KRIMZ would be transferred to GODSENT, and the team would be welcoming Simon "twist" Eliasson and Jonas "Lekr0" Olofsson in return. Wenton, who was already a substitute for Fnatic, completed the line-up.
On 20 August 2017, Fnatic announced that olofmeister would depart from Fnatic to join FaZe Clan, and dennis would also leave Fnatic and join GODSENT; they were replaced by Maikil "Golden" Selim and Lekr0.
In September 2019, flusha and Golden, two previous squad members, rejoined the team. Following this roster move, Fnatic enjoyed some success, until at the start of 2021 there were more changes, with flusha stepping down from the team's active roster to be replaced by the 21-year-old talent Jack "Jackinho" Ström Mattsson. After this change, the team had a slew of losses, falling over the next six months to a near all-time low of position #65 on the HLTV team ranking. As a result of this, the decision was made to change things up, with the roster becoming, for the first time, an international one following the addition of UK players Alexander "ALEX" McMeekin and William "mezii" Merriman and the benching of JW and Golden.
This change was positive at first for Fnatic, leading to good performances at ESL Pro League XIV, and allowing them to regain a higher ranking. However, the team continued to face challenges in later competitions.
In May 2023, prior to the roster changes, Fnatic qualified for the Saudi Arabian Gamers8 2023 tournament. Fnatic were eliminated early from the tournament on 16 August, following a 2–0 loss to Cloud9.
On 18 May 2023
Former divisions
On 3 April 2018, Fnatic announced it would join and compete in the upcoming Clash Royale League. They placed 7th in the group stage.
In Clash Royale League Season 2, Fnatic finished 4th in the group stage of the West Region, which meant they did not qualify for the finals.
On 30 March 2012, Fnatic’s Heroes of Newerth team, which included Johan "N0tail" Sundstein, Jascha "NoVa" Markuse, Tal "Fly" Aizik, and Adrian "Era" Kryeziu, officially moved to Dota 2. By early September of the same year, the team finalized its roster by adding Kai "H4nn1" Hanbückers and Kalle "Trixi" Saarinen, with Kalle replacing Jascha "NoVa" Markuse.
In 2014, Fnatic ended its partnership with its Dota 2 team, as each member chose to leave the organization.
In 2015, Fnatic returned to Dota 2 by hiring the roster of Team Malaysia.
Fnatic placed 4th at The International 2016.
On 10 February 2023, Fnatic temporarily left the Dota 2 competitive scene.
On 9 October 2014, Fnatic expanded into Heroes of the Storm by forming a temporary team for the BlizzCon Exhibition Tournament. The team included players from StarCraft II and League of Legends, such as Johan Lucchesi, Kim Hammar, Manuel Mildenberger, Cristian Lippa, and Joaquim Fitas. After the event, new players joined, including Jonathan Gunnarsson, Simon Svensson, Thomas Cailleux, Alexandre Laignel, and Lawrence Harper. The team won nearly every Heroes of the Storm tournament in 2017, but the game lost popularity over time. Fnatic ended its Heroes of the Storm division on 19 December 2018.
In 2008, Fnatic signed Maximo12, a Spanish FIFA football video game player who won titles in 2008 and 2009, such as the WCG Spain Champion in 2008.
On 6 November 2019, Fnatic signed Tekkz.
On 8 November 2014, Fnatic signed its first Smite team by hiring the roster of Exposed Secrets. The team reached the semifinals of the Season 1 EU regional championship but did not qualify for the SMITE World Championship. The team ended in December 2014.
On 6 March 2015, Fnatic announced it had hired the roster of SK Gaming. The team competed in the Smite Pro League and finished 5th in the Summer Finals, earning $18,250.
For the Season 3 Spring Split, Fnatic added BigManTingz and Jiffy to the team after Badgah and CaptainTwig left at the start of 2016. The team finished the season in 8th place with an 8–20 record.
The Fnatic Smite team ended on 18 July 2016.
In November 2012, Fnatic announced it had signed a ShootMania Storm team. The team included Kévin "Strenx" Baéza, a former member of their previous Quake team, and two new players, Maikel "LeKaiM" Peeters and Jean Pierre "JiePie" Janssen. The trio won many small tournaments and the Shootmania Launch Party, where they earned $30,000. In December, Christoffer "Luxxiz" Losell joined the team after LeKaiM left.
On 8 January 2014, Fnatic announced the departure of their ShootMania squad and the end of their ShootMania division, citing a decrease in the number and quality of tournaments as the main reason.
With DXRacer joining as a sponsor, Fnatic decided to expand to Korea. On 19 March 2012, they announced the opening of a Fnatic Gaming House in Seoul, becoming the first foreign team to establish a permanent training facility in the city. Fnatic hired several talented players from the Korean StarCraft II scene, including "DeParture," Warcraft legend "Moon," and "aLive." They were coached by Hwanni, who joined that month. Later, OZ and Luvsic signed with Fnatic. In 2012, Rain retired and left the team, followed by Byul, Ares, and Moon. Only two players remained in Korea, leading Fnatic to close the Seoul gaming house and end contracts with aLive and OZ. Harstem was later promoted from the academy to the main roster, and the team added SaSe, another well-known player.
On 18 October 2019, Fnatic entered the PUBG Mobile scene by hiring the roster of the Indian team XSpark. After the acquisition, Fnatic announced plans to build a gaming facility in India. On 28 November 2019