Multiplay Ltd is a UK-based company which was incorporated in May 1997. Originally founded as a gaming events company, known for the Insomnia Gaming festival, now specialises in dedicated game servers, working directly with game studios and publishers. The company is owned by Unity Technologies.
History
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. Multiplay was sold to GAME in 2015. It was further sold to Unity Technologies in 2017.
Events
Insomnia Gaming Festival
Insomnia Gaming Festival is a large-scale gaming event with a professional Main Stage, an Expo Hall and a large-scale LAN 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.
Minecon 2012
Multiplay were approached by Sandbox/Survival game creators Mojang to produce their fan festival Minecon, celebrating the online world of Minecraft. The convention was held in Disneyland Paris in November 2012 and attracted over 7,000 visitors.
Multiplay UK have also hosted the United Kingdom's national qualifiers for the World Cyber Games at their I-Series events for a number of years, working on behalf of Samsung Electronics UK for the 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008 games. For the 2009 games Multiplay have been confirmed as the strategic partner by global organiser International Cyber Marketing. The 2009 UK National Final was held at M Festival, Multiplay's own video gaming festival in August 2009 at Stoneleigh Park.
Multiplay UK's i44 event in Telford hosted the IGN Pro League 4 UK Qualifiers resulting in the biggest eSports event the UK has ever hosted. Over 2,500,000 viewers watched the proceedings with TotalBiscuit and Apollo commentating on top Starcraft 2 professional players like White Ra, Stephano and Grubby. $20,000 prize pool was given out to the top 8 players, with the French player Stephano taking gold.
ESET UK Masters
Multiplay also hosted the finals for the ESET UK Masters in 2012/2013 which plays host to the biggest prize pool for a Starcraft 2 tournament sponsored by a UK organization at an esports event. This is set to take part for all 3 iSeries events in 2013 making it one of the most ambitious eSports projects hosted within the UK.
