The sometimes obscure world of eSports is about to get a significant signal boost in the UK, with plans announced for the country's first arena dedicated to high-level, competitive gaming.

The move comes as part of Kingston-based Gfinity's plans to float on the stock market. With an estimated £13m valuation, the company aims to raise £3m to build the new centre, which is intended to accomodate up to 500 spectators at a time. "The growth across the whole market is just phenomenal but we need funding to accelerate our own growth," Gfinity founder Neville Upton told City A.M. "The money will pay for us to build an eSports Arena, the first ever in the UK, and provide competitions on a regular basis. There's only two other major global providers of eSports: Major League Gaming in the US and eSports League in Germany. This float will give us enough firepower to be on their scale and hopefully build up a reputation for our competitions."


In its current form -- an online hub for competitive players of games such as Call of Duty, League of Legends and

Starcraft II -- has over 270,000 people registered and sees circa 30,000 new subscribers each month, according to Upton.

eSports is becoming an increasing popular -- and lucrative -- market. This June saw the DotA II championships offer a $10m (£6.35m) prize pot, and Gfinity itself held its first arena event, attracting 4,000 attendees.

Although Gfinity hasn't announced details of opening dates or location for its bespoke arena, nor a window for its IPO of shares, the company has revealed plans for its expanded operations next year, with 30 large-scale offline events, more games joining its competitive roster, and $500,000 (£317,000) in prize money.