Industry Veteran Sam Braithwaite Joins ESL FACEIT Group

Credit: Sam Braithwaite/ESL FACEIT Group

Global esports tournament organizer ESL FACEIT Group announced Wednesday that esports industry veteran Sam Braithwaite has joined the company as the new vice president of game ecosystems, mobile. His key role will be in overseeing the strategic direction of the ecosystem of the mobile esports circuit, the Snapdragon Pro Series—a joint operation between Qualcomm Technologies, Samsung, and ESL.

Braithwaite spent nearly four years as Activision Blizzard’s global director of esports, overseeing such titles as Hearthstone, World of Warcraft, and other classic Activision Blizzard games. Prior to that, he served in various roles at Blizzard for more than three years including as a product manager for esports, esports franchise lead for Heroes of the Storm, esports franchise lead for Heroes of the Storm, Starcraft II, and Classic Games; and senior global franchise lead on Hearthstone.

Before joining he worked for S2 Games on the popular game Heroes of Newerth as director of esports, publishing manager for North America and Europe, and as head of marketing.

This news follows ESL FACEIT Group’s announcement that it had inked a deal with Activision Blizzard to add Call of Duty: Mobile into the Snapdragon Pro Series.