EBET, ORDER Troubles Leave Employees in Limbo
It hasn’t been a great week for the esports industry as serious layoffs hit publicly-traded esports betting platform EBET and Australian esports organization ORDER for different reasons.
For ORDER employees, it was a shock to the system as the company suddenly informed them this week that it had entered into voluntary insolvency and that everyone was basically out of the job. Not including teams, the company left around 12 employees out of work—and according to some—unpaid for the previous month’s employment. More details on that story here.
As for EBET, it confirmed news from last week (reported by Sharpr) that the company decided to step out of the esports-related wagering business and laid off employees related to those operations. That reporting forced the company to announce publicly this week its plans to cut 54% of its workforce and step out of certain businesses it operates.
All of this is the long way of saying that there is a lot of talent out there looking for employment so if you have an opening at your company or you know someone who needs to fill some open positions, find them on LinkedIn or Twitter before someone else does. It should also be noted that right now there are entire teams of players from ORDER—some of the best in the Australian esports scene—just waiting to be snapped up.
Let’s get into this week’s biggest moves in esports and gaming (be sure to check out Tuesday’s issue right here if you missed it). - James Fudge.
Movers & Shakers
After more than nine years at Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering maker Wizards of the Coast (which is owned by Hasbro), Liz Lamb-Ferro has joined Riot Games as its new senior director of brand management. Lamb-Ferro spent the bulk of her time at WotC promoting and marketing the company's flagship collectible card game and its online digital platform, MTG Arena.
Chris Orfanellis, who served as chief gaming officer at ORDER until earlier this week, was one of 12 employees affected by the company's bankruptcy. Orfanellis, who left 100 Thieves in December of 2020 to join the Melbourne esports organization, shared his thoughts on the news in this social media post.
Dignitas team and talent manager Ricardo Figueiredo announced that Aug. 31, will be his last day with the Los Angeles-based esports organization. Because he is in the U.S on a P1-S visa, Figueiredo is looking for work immediately; his areas of expertise include team management, operations, and activations. Figueiredo dedicated almost three years to Dignitas and is one of several employees that were laid off in July.
People on the Move
Here is this week’s list of promotions, hires, and departures in the gaming/esports industry:
Esports:
John DeHart joins Belong Gaming as its new director of marketing.
Tony Constantacos joins OpTic Gaming as its new director of business development.
Bethany Pyles leaves Cloud9 to join Galaxy Racer North America as esports manager, leading its new #HERGalaxy initiative.
Stephanie Miller takes on the full-time role of social media coordinator at eFuse.
Astrid Croce-Spinelli joins Singapore-based esports and gaming firm Ampverse as its new VP of business development.
Caroline Simpson leaves her role as sales account director for Twitch at Amazon Advertising (Singapore) to join Spotify (UK) as its new international client partner.
Kelly Kiewel is promoted to senior director at Twitch.
Jasmine Randolph takes on a part-time role at Pocket Frog as an esports sponsorship sales associate. Randolph is also the founder of Team Inferno.
Gaming:
Ko Kento joins Riot Games as its new brand manager, strategy & entertainment (Tokyo).
Beth Bryson has been promoted to the role of brand manager, Overwatch at Blizzard Entertainment.
Dana Green has joined Blizzard as an associate level designer to work on an unannounced survival game.
Marician Dedeaux Brown has been promoted to the role of associate talent sourcer at Activision Blizzard.
Andrea Schneider joins Austin-based game developer SciPlay as director of global communications.
Vikram Mehta joins Toronto-based Behaviour Interactive as its new senior product manager.
Amanda Melville joins Nintendo as its newest 3D environment artist.
Bryan Benson is promoted to level designer at BioWare.
Other:
Christa Wittenberg is promoted to VP, global retail sales & channel marketing at Meta (Facebook).
Andy Ochiltree is promoted to VP of marketing at Subnation.
Per Höglund joins influencer marketing firm WeHype as its new partnerships manager.
Peter Vanham is appointed to the role of executive editor at Fortune Magazine.
Seth Thomas is promoted to senior director, head of tokenomics & forecasting at Nike Virtual Studios.
Sunghwan Kim leaves Omnicom's gaming & esports group Zero Code to join CJ Foods as its new sports sponsorship marketing manager.
Sydney-based gaming marketing and gametech company Livewire promotes Jarryd Christensen to global head of ad operations, Peter Jacobs and Luke Aldridge to UK co-heads, Adam Fischer to head of ANZ, and Joseph Lee to head of SEA.
Amy Scheer joins the NFL to tackle the role of NFL Club business development.
Ricard Martinez Cuders joins FIFA to tackle the role of professional football relations & development coordinator.
Manuel Feist exits FIFA to join Manchester City Football Group as its new football services manager.
Mariah Kleiman is promoted to the role of group sales manager at Spurs Sports & Entertainment.
In Other News
⚒ LeagueSpot is looking to fill a (remote) VP of Marketing position and eFuse is on the hunt for a new director of product marketing (remote).
🤦♂️ T1 CEO Joe Marsh has taken a six-month salary cut following an online scandal involving LCK star Mun ‘Oner’ Hyeon-jun. Marsh apologized to fans and promised to do better in the future.
👎 Activision Blizzard thinks all employees at Blizzard Albany working on the Diablo franchise should have a say on whether the studio unionizes—not just those who organized unionization plans.
😩 The reality of content streaming is almost always a path that leads to burning out.
💓 Help raise money for Hellfire Games Community Manager Matthew Nowacki's fight against cancer.
🏆 Tiffany's will once again design the fancy trophy for the League of Legends World Championship.
💪 In-game advertising platform Anzu.io signs gaming industry veteran Jürgen Goeldner as a strategic advisor—he has worked in executive roles at Square Enix, Eidos, THQ, and Focus Entertainment.
Want to highlight your latest hire? Looking to promote a new job opening? Drop me a line at jamesbfudge@gmail.com with the subject line “People on the Move.”