It’s a heat summer season’s day in south London and legendary esports host Frankie Ward is crouched in her backyard, posing for a photoshoot. In her ordinary line of labor, Ward addresses packed arenas and hundreds of thousands of followers. However at the moment, she’s extra excited by stating rose bushes that want deadheading.
“This spot used to have hemlock,” says Ward, indicating the one naked patch of soil in her backyard, the place no hint of the toxic plant stays. “It was like one thing out of Little Store of Horrors!” she provides, referencing the hit musical’s villainous, fast-growing weed.
Gardening is a ardour of Ward’s that’s by no means proven on-camera. When she’s working, Ward fronts a few of the greatest gaming occasions on this planet – similar to the newest League Of Legends Mid-Season Invitational, which peaked at 2.2 million viewers when it was held in London earlier this yr. She’s additionally helmed quite a few high-profile Counter-Strike: World Offensive tournaments, together with the annual PC Gaming Present. After a meteoric rise, Ward has turn into one of the crucial recognisable presenters in gaming – although her life nearly performed out very in another way.
“If I see one thing that can be higher, I attempt to see if I can make it higher”
Ward was born the place she now lives, in south London. As a baby, it wasn’t consoles she obsessed over however historic historical past. She was determined to be an egyptologist. As a substitute, her mum – maybe recognizing some early glimmer of inventive expertise – inspired her to be an actor. At 18, she was packed off to Birmingham College to check Drama Theatre Arts. It was the coed radio station that captured her creativeness although, not Shakespeare. She fell in with the uni’s radio membership, Burn FM, and was given a daily slot for which she roamed Birmingham with a “shitty £20 dictaphone” looking for bands to interview. Regardless of dire listening figures, Ward by no means misplaced motivation: “I simply didn’t inform Bombay Bicycle Membership that their interview would by no means be heard!”
Ward’s exhausting work ultimately paid off, and she or he snagged a digital producer internship on the BBC. That turned a full-time job, which often noticed her overlaying on-camera duties – one thing she had averted in Birmingham, however now found was a power. “I realised that typically, the tales you inform will be extra private, extra attention-grabbing,” she says, “while you’re additionally within the body.”
In the event you’ve seen Ward in full movement, you’ll know she makes showing on-camera look easy – even when it’s not. Throughout her NME shoot at the moment, it’s scorching and sweaty. However Ward poses for the photographer with out criticism, nonetheless discovering time for tales of rampant shrubs and misplaced wallflowers. She flits between set-ups effortlessly, which means we’re in a position to transfer the interview to a shady beer backyard (and a few chilly drinks) a lot before anticipated. Away from the flashing lens, Ward opens up. She says she’s at all times been assured however used to fret about being judged for it.
“One of many issues I needed to get past was worrying what individuals considered me,” she says. “I used to be advised [by a BBC coworker] that my character was an excessive amount of, and I wanted to be ‘much less me’. However my character in interviews will get extra out of individuals. If I’m the butt of the joke, [it can help them feel more] snug… so when one thing like that’s stated to me, it’s my worst nightmare as a result of I’m similar to, ‘oh nice – individuals will suppose I’m an egotist.’”
Ward’s subsequent step proved that individual was very incorrect. At 26, she produced the BBC’s first esports protection: 2015’s League Of Legends World Championship, a worldwide event for a preferred multiplayer sport the place two groups of 5 compete to destroy their opponents’ base. League Of Legends will be notoriously tough – and at London’s 12,500 capability Wembley Area, the perfect of the perfect had been competing.
“As a result of League was doing this occasion of ‘nationwide significance’ we had an excuse to [cover] it,” she says, grinning. Whereas there, she took the chance to immerse herself within the sport’s “ecstatic” group. It was intoxicating – from a single esports occasion, Ward was hooked.
“The tales you inform will be extra private, extra attention-grabbing, while you’re additionally within the body”
She left the BBC and determined to dive into video games full-time for Twitch, the largest streaming platform for gaming. Although a lot of her producer job was behind-the-scenes, Ward often stepped in as a brief host. In 2017, a messy encounter with famous person DJ Steve Aoki led her to take up internet hosting full time.
“I used to be working a stage at Gamescom in 2017, and Steve Aoki got here to play [superhero fighting game] Injustice 2,” Ward says. “However Aoki has a factor the place he ‘truffles’ individuals on stage…”
Positive sufficient, Aoki was planning a sweet-toothed shock. Minutes earlier than the curtain rose, he approached Ward and advised her there was an issue. “He simply checked out me and stated… ‘It’s the incorrect form of cake’,” Ward remembers. “‘This type received’t crumble correctly.’” He was incorrect. “That cake crumbled all around the fucking stage! There was icing in all places. I used to be on my fingers and knees making an attempt to eliminate it, and I ended up with pink buttercream on my arse.”
When the ground was clear, Ward was interviewed by Ginx TV, a gaming website that was ran a section on Gamescom. Although Ward was nonetheless coated in icing, Ginx TV recognised her onscreen charisma and requested if she’d wish to co-host its esports talkshow ‘The Bridge’. She accepted.
Quick-forward 5 years, and there are few gaming scenes that Ward hasn’t appeared in. She’s a mainstay on the annual PC Gaming Present, which brings in hundreds of thousands of viewers each summer season. She’s additionally a co-presenter for GamesMaster, E4’s revival of the favored TV present from the Nineties. And if that isn’t sufficient, she hosted 2023’s BAFTA Video games Awards, the UK trade’s most prestigious occasion. Ward hasn’t simply caught the touchdown: she’s turn into one of the crucial various, charismatic figures in gaming.
For probably the most half, Ward’s made it look simple. But she’s needed to overcome quite a bit throughout her rise. Past the standard challenges of breaking into a brand new trade, there have been poisonous work environments, social media struggles and battles to “show” she will be able to nonetheless carry out after changing into a first-time mom in 2021. “I wished the trade to be welcoming after I joined,” she says, “however it didn’t at all times really feel prefer it was.” She continues to really feel strongly about uplifting the areas she operates in. That could possibly be by bettering the standard of broadcast or in making a friendlier environment. “If I see one thing that can be higher, I attempt to see if I can make it higher.”
It’s an ongoing battle, however Ward thinks progress has been made. Ward factors to a number of tournaments she’s labored at the place spots have been opened up for extra ladies to get entangled. She additionally does her greatest to nudge any employer in the fitting path: “I attempt to say there’s area for extra individuals on [broadcast] lineups with out changing anybody.” But there’s at all times room for enchancment, and a few latest developments inside esports are regarding.
Saudi Arabia, which frequently receives criticism for its poor human rights file, has lengthy been accused of sportswashing – the act of laundering a controversial repute by pouring cash into sports activities. In 2020, the nation invested within the League Of Legends European Championship (LEC) together with esports event organiser BLAST.
Whereas these partnerships had been in the end shut down following stress from followers and broadcast expertise together with Ward, final yr Savvy Gaming Group – an funding firm backed by the Saudi Arabian authorities – bought ESL Gaming and FACEIT, two of the most important esports organisers on this planet. Ward, who has labored with each teams, says the billion-pound acquisition was carried out behind closed doorways – and by the point it was made public, the sale had already gone by means of.
Ward, whose identify is clearly intently related to the esports model and who usually speaks out in favour of inclusivity within the trade, discovered of the acquisition similtaneously everybody else. She was taking good care of her child daughter when her telephone abruptly blew up. The messages, she says, ranged from followers labeling her a hypocrite to outright “abuse” from trolls, who seized the chance to pile on.
As a response, Ward wrote a weblog saying she was “heartbroken” by the transfer, and have become one among ESL’s first presenters to talk out in opposition to the deal. It opened her as much as but extra abuse. Esports followers piled on to query her stance, calling out her time on the 2019 BLAST Professional Collection in Bahrain, an occasion she says she regrets doing, alongside along with her function in internet hosting a Saudi-owned charity occasion in 2020, which she accepted when COVID brought on “all of [her] work” to fade.
Because of the acquisition, Ward turned down “quite a bit” of occasions, however realised that persevering with to take action would lead to being locked out of Counter-Strike completely because of ESL and FACEIT organising the lion’s share of occasions. After affected by postpartum despair in 2022, Ward took a much-needed break from internet hosting earlier than returning to work with ESL for its all-women Influence circuit, which champions underrepresented and LGBTQIA+ members.
“You’ll be able to’t work within the trade except you might be part of that system,” she says. “That’s one thing I’ve been fighting during the last yr and a half, it’s been phenomenally exhausting. You’ll be able to’t be within the trade except you’re employed with it, however then what does that imply? I can’t attain the individuals I at the moment attain except I’m there.”
Reconciling her objections with the great her platform permits her to do is one thing that Ward continues to battle with. “It’s terrible,” she begins to say, choking up. When she speaks once more, there are tears working down her face. “I really feel like I’ve let so many individuals down. I actually need to have a good time Pleasure and communicate out for trans individuals as a result of each time you go on Twitter, there’s some fool being terrible. However I additionally know that I’m a part of the issue.”
Ward says that whereas most individuals are understanding of her place, social media will be “suffocating” at occasions. Regardless of what critics say, she has paid for her stance: “I knew after I spoke out in opposition to [the acquisition], I in all probability wouldn’t get to do Counter-Strike BLAST [events] ever once more – and I haven’t,” she admits. “However the entire males who spoke about it are superb and dealing for these corporations – I’m the one one [who isn’t].”
Moreover, Ward says there are buddies she hasn’t seen in years as a result of she “hasn’t been in a position” to return to the tasks they collaborated on. Ward additionally worries that she could also be additional shut out if she continues to criticise sure house owners. “I’m an interviewer and a really empathic individual,” says Ward, ”so I give it some thought quite a bit.”
In the end, Ward nonetheless loves what she does – and is aware of she’s good at it. She’s planning to take day out for an “analysis” this yr, which can assist her resolve what transfer to make subsequent. She says she’s on the lookout for a broadcaster to work with longer-term, together with wider gaming alternatives and extra UK-based occasions in order that she will be able to spend time along with her daughter. Regardless of the future holds, we predict again to Ward’s backyard and the naked patch of soil the place hemlock as soon as stood: a possibility for one thing new to flourish.
Frankie Ward is on Twitter at @FrankieWard
