I’ve written thousands of articles during my career – more than 3,000 in the last seven years to 2023 on Esports News UK and British Esports alone. I’ve also produced several long reports and whitepapers.
Because of this, I wanted a place where I could list some of my more standout pieces of work. I’ve included a few articles to start with and will add to this page over time.
News
While news writing is one of my favourite types of content nowadays, it was not always the case. At university my news lecturer Dan Hogan used to give us a few days to find news stories in our local area. One time, I was so stuck, I wrote about some new flats being built. When I received my paper back, Dan had written: ‘Dom. What the **** is this?!’
It wasn’t until a year into my first job at Auto Trader did I begin to really understand news. Here are some of the stories I’ve broken, plus some context around them.
Please note, I never used my position at British Esports to hear about industry rumours and break stories on Esports News UK! That would be unprofessional and a conflict of interest. Unfortunately it means I had to sit on many interesting pieces of news and not write them, but no longer – as of February 2021 I stepped back full-time from British Esports.
- Overwatch 2 in development (Esports News UK, 2017): A few people laughed at me in disbelief when I originally wrote this story, but I trust my sources and, in 2019, the game was confirmed. I was technically the first to publicly reveal its existence
- ‘Let’s make esports inclusive for all’ – presenter Frankie Ward calls out use of homophobic language in esports (Esports News UK): Whenever I cover news based on someone else’s opinion, I always do my best to make it as balanced as possible and get the other side of the story. This objective style of reporting earnt me praise from one of the staunchest personalities in esports in this particular instance
- Gross Gore unbanned by Twitch (Esports News UK): I knew this was happening long before it was announced so managed to get the jump on it and saw it reach the front page of the League of Legends subreddit
- Third Yogscast member under investigation after CEO departs over accusations of inappropriate behaviour (Esports News UK): I broke this news fast and it became the most-read article on the site with almost 120,000 views
- Radix Esports owner assaulted outside Birmingham hotel in horrific hammer attack (Esports News UK): I did not enjoy writing this one at all but safety is important at events and I had a duty to the UK esports scene to cover it
- UK tech distributor calls on rivals to unite against Amazon over unpaid invoices (PCR): This was one of my most important stories as editor of PCR, which created waves in the UK PC industry following its publication
- MCV: I wrote a few news pieces for the magazine that went national and were picked up by the BBC – including one Microsoft’s marketing initiatives around Halo Reach’s UK launch – as well some that went global such as the scoop on the sequel to Dance Central (I flew out to Harmonix in the US for this one). I also wrote several front-page stories like Microsoft’s family push with Kinect and Valve’s attack on ad agencies.
- Auto Trader: I scooped an exclusive story about someone using the government’s car scrappage scheme to buy a Nissan GT-R supercar, which was picked up by national newspapers and other motoring press
- MP backs Fight the Fakes campaign (ToyNews): My most memorable news piece at this industry magazine was based on a campaign I set up as deputy editor to crack down on counterfeit toys, with input from Trading Standards
- ‘PC games have surpassed console games globally’ (PCR): This was one of the site’s most-read articles
Features
I used to love writing features and investigative pieces, but I like to put in deep levels of research for them and, given my current situation with three kids and so much work on, I just don’t have the time to put these together to a standard I would like.
Nevertheless, here are a few that stand out to me which I wrote before my twins came along.
- Viva España: Why is Spanish League of Legends so popular and what can the UK learn from it?
- Elo boosting: How much money do boosters make and what effect is it having?
- Behind the scenes: a tour of Overclockers UK’s warehouse
- Why do esports pros retire so young and what can they do next? We ask Snoopeh
- Can we stop ‘suicidal’ games prices?
- British Esports advice, careers info and more: I’ve written almost the entirety of the British Esports website and am probably most proud of the careers and advice pages. I know the esports funding guide and esports tax guide have been useful to people in particular
- Memes of the Month (not a feature, but a regular I introduced on Esports News UK which I needed to highlight somewhere). Come to think of it, I haven’t written one of these in a while…
Opinion
Columns are so important in the world of journalism nowadays (excluding hot takes designed to mislead or intentionally anger the reader), in my opinion. Here are a handful of mine:
- Giving back to the next generation of esports and sports media talent: My experience as a guest lecturer at the University of Chichester
- All-female Russian LoL team Vaevictis Esports lose 52-2 in the LCL: Is this really about giving women a platform or is it just an unfair publicity stunt?
- The day I got railgunned in the head by onscreen in a Quake II RTX tournament
- Gone but not forgotten: 11 great esports developments and memories ESL UK staff made which I’ll never forget
- How becoming a father has given me a new perspective on work (and it’s not what you might think)
Reports and whitepapers
I’ve produced several reports, infographics and whitepapers for companies. There’s a UK esports report for UK games industry trade body Ukie on the way in early 2023, plus I’ve put together many reports for British Esports, such as end of year reports, age rating guides, case studies on esports college programs, vision documents and more.
I have also been hired to produce internal reports on a consultancy basis for games companies, for example a specific esports research paper for a triple-A game developer.
Some examples:
- British Esports End of Year Report 2018
- British Esports Vision 2022 Document
- Esports Parents Guide
- Esports Age Guide
Other work
Check out some of my interviews and videos here, plus info on my first novel here. I’ve also done a lot of speaking work over the years, chairing panels at conferences like ESI London, PCR Boot Camp, Pocket Gamer Connects, giving talks on journalism and esports at schools and more. Check out my speaking work here.
Dominic Sacco 