Hey everyone, it’s been a rough week for the esports industry as more people find themselves out of work and thrust into an already over-saturated job market. Not a good time for these people so if you have job openings let me know and I’ll share them with my network.
On another topic, I mucked around a bit with ChatGPT and ended up using it to build out the HTML code for the bulleted list this week… though there were a few hiccups it worked out pretty well. I think AI is great for taking tedious tasks like this off my plate so I can focus on writing. I won’t ever use it for writing actual copy, because I enjoy doing it, it will only create boring lines of text, and robots don’t have souls.
Anyway, onto this week’s news. - James Fudge.
Layoffs, Closures, and Other Esports News
After some digging this week and talking to a number of people, I confirmed that Los Angeles esports organization eUnited had closed its doors - I wrote extensively about it this week for The Esports Advocate. I also wrote about the recent layoffs at another LA-based esports organization, 100 Thieves. Around 30 people were let go in a new round of layoffs. Very sad news.
Some other interesting news bits that aren’t sad:
eStar Gaming Victory Five completed its merger with Ninjas in Pyjamas.
Riot revealed the format for League of Legends esports in 2023.
SA Dota DPC and LPL sponsors were revealed this week.
Team Vitality inked three-year deal with Hummel International.
People on the Move
Here is this week’s list of promotions, hires, and departures in the gaming/esports industry:
Esports:
Rob Gedarovich joins Riot Games as senior manager, social media marketing - Esports.
Luke Jones joins Guild Esports as director of esports and gaming.
Hennes Heijmans leaves his role as talent manager at G2 Esports after more than two years.
York Scheunemann leaves Google to join Bayes Esports as chief operating officer.
Riley Alexis Wood is no longer with Nerd Street Gamer as a broadcast producer.
Lance Warner joins Oxygen Esports to spearhead marketing & socials for both Boston Breach and Boston Uprising.
Leo Lin has been promoted to president of global mobile growth at Riot Games.
Rana Kaplan is promoted to general manager at FaZe Clan.
Damian Mathews resigns from his roles as COO and CFO at Esports Entertainment Group.
Jordan Sherman is no longer the CEO of Immortals.
Guild Esports promotes Jasmine Skee to CEO.
Luke Jones joins Guild Esports to take on the role of director of esports and gaming.
Nick Westwood joins Guild Esports as its new senior vice president.
Georgia Morison joins Guild Esports as the new head of events and HQ.
Jacob Arce is promoted to head of esports at XSET.
David Luce joins the XSET team as its new chief content officer.
Jessica Pak was one of the 30+ people laid off at 100 Thieves this week. Pak served as a senior account manager, and has worked for Team Liquid, IGN, Turner, and Turner Sports.
Trevor Lazaroo joins Singapore-based esports organization RSG as a business development associate.
Craig Stevens leaves Belong Gaming to join sister company Esports Engine as its new senior project and planning manager.
Thomas Trewren ("Tommey"), who most recently played for 100 Thieves, will now be represented by DotX Talent.
Gaming:
David Jagneaux joins First Contact Entertainment as its new strategic communications manager.
Kerry McKenna joins Gravity Media as audio lead, working with Riot Games.
Lance Teo leaves Activision Blizzard after more than six years at the company. He most recently served as regional marketing lead for SEA & India.
Carissa Gonzalez is promoted to CEO of Pixelberry Studios.
Mike Brown joins Maverick Games as creative director.
Joey Paul is promoted to strategy manager at Rockstar Games.
Sebastian Ärleryd has joined Epic Games as a tools engineer.
Chris Groves leave Frontier Developments to join Sumo Digital as its new senior community manager.
Gabriel Aigner joins Razer as a social media specialist.
Petra L. joins Stunlock Studios as its new content marketing manager.
Kieran O'Leary is promoted to chief revenue officer at Gameloft.
Jim Squires is promoted to director of games PR at Resolution Games.
Sean McKenna leaves Dapper Labs to join NetEase Games as senior recruiter.
Other:
Albert Briggs is promoted to the role of brand partnerships manager - growth gaming at TikTok.
Craig Santicchia joins gaming & esports consultancy firm Wolfpad Gaming Ltd as managing director.
Dominick Namis says goodbye to Meta and hello to NeoPeople as head of business development.
Karl Ögland joins Gameplan as a content creator.
Hilary Adams is promoted to senior director of event experience for Phoenix Raceway & Auto Club Speedway (NASCAR West Region).
Giulia Mazzia is promoted to global head of partnerships at AC Milan.
Julian Elliby II is no longer at Loaded.
Andie Wright leaves Twitter to join Spotify as a client account manager.
Darius Gotay was laid off by RESPAWN Products this week and is seeking new opportunities. He served as social media and content manager at the company.
Jason Wilson leaves his role as esports editor at Sports Business Journal to focus on editing and building the company's myriad of newsletter products.
Sally Kevan joins Esports Insider as events manager.
Billy Studholme re-joins the Esports Insider editorial team as assistant editor.
Kevin Warren has been named president and CEO of the Chicago Bears.
Grant Taylor-Hill leaves his role as an SEO content lead editor writing about esports to join Sky as group platform control principal problem manager.
Cristian Nyari joins Apple to work on sports business revenue optimization.
Emily Morrow has left her role as a staff writer at DotEsports.
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