Multiplay
 |
|
| Subsidiary | |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Founder | Craig Fletcher |
| Headquarters | Blackfield, United Kingdom |
|
Key people
|
Craig Fletcher (CEO) Stewart Fletcher (COO) |
| Products | Event Production Electronic Sports |
| Services | Game Server Hosting Corporate Hosting |
| Owner | Game Digital plc |
| Website | www |
Multiplay (UK) Ltd is a UK-based family company which was incorporated in May 1997 by Craig Fletcher. They have been running gaming events for over a decade. They have achieved mass exposure as the producers of the Insomnia Gaming Festival, the UK's largest video games festival, and as the Events Producer behind Minecon - the Minecraft convention held in Disneyland Paris. Multiplay is also known as a worldwide Games Service Provider. Their servers host players from 195 different countries and hold a PCU (Peak Concurrent Users) of over 25,000. The company is owned by Game Digital plc.
Multiplay started as a LAN event organiser in 1999 hosting their first event "Insomnia" in conjunction with Wireplay. The event underwent a name change to i-series for their second event "i2" due to splitting with Wireplay.
Events 2-4 were all hosted in Swindon Town before moving to a new venue, the Newbury Racecourse Conference Center for "i5" in the year 2000. The event later moved to Stoneleigh Park in 2008 for "i34" citing continued growth needing a larger venue. As a result of the recession of 2008 Multiplay were then forced to move back to Newbury Racecourse citing decreased revenue from sponsorships. After 3 years at Newbury the event outgrew the venue again and moved to Telford International Centre in 2011, and it was here that the name of the event was changed back to the original "Insomnia" name. On 2 December 2013 Multiplay announced the Insomnia event would move to the Ricoh Arena for i51 onwards citing continued growth. The event moved again for i56 onwards, this time to the Birmingham NEC, the UK's largest exhibition centre.
Hundreds of professional gaming tournaments have been hosted at "iSeries" ever since its inception. They offer considerable prize pools for winning tournaments at Insomnia with over £390,000 being given away in prize money. Insomnia attracts major professional gaming teams such as Dignitas, TCM and Infused. In addition to their own tournaments, Multiplay have also been the WCG UK Strategic partner since 2004.
Insomnia Gaming Festival is a large-scale gaming event with a professional Main Stage, an Expo Hall and a large-scale LAN (Local Area Network) event which is the largest LAN in the UK. Originally this was a PC gaming only event, but in recent years has incorporated console gamers. The series of events, referred to as the ‘iSeries’ are sequentially numbered and run three times a year, typically with one around Easter, with the others usually hosted in August and November. The original events were hosted at Newbury Racecourse in the United Kingdom from i5 to i33 when the venue was relocated to Stoneleigh Park for i34. From i38 to i42 the event returned to Newbury. The home of i43 to i50 events was The Telford International Centre and from i51 to i55 it took place at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. i56 - present day is being held at the NEC in Birmingham due to its growth and popularity. These events have evolved with professional competitive tournaments and large exhibition halls. Popular segments of the festival include main stage shows by special guests, often YouTube personalities, as well as evening entertainment such as the "World Famous Insomnia Pub Quiz". Sometimes referred to as “The Glastonbury of Gaming”, Insomnia continues to be the biggest festival of its kind in the UK. The first Insomnia: Insomnia99 was a 300-player event. At that point, it was, and remains, the largest LAN party held in the United Kingdom. It was announced during i55 that the festival would relocate to the NEC in Birmingham in time for i56 in December 2015.
...
Wikipedia