The Week in Esports Business for April 1 - 8, 2023
It is the end of days for CLG, but not its LCS team.
Before we dive into this week’s news, please check out the latest edition of The Path (our content series that tells the stories of people in the esports industry) featuring M80 Co-Founder and Head of Marketing Nate Schanker—it’s an amazing story that you should read. For young people, I strongly encourage you to read this story and maybe find some inspiration from Nate—he’s awesome. Now onto this week’s big stories. - James Fudge.
Top Story: CLG is Dead, NRG Takes Over LCS Team
Los Angeles-based esports organization CLG closed its doors and laid off a majority of its staff on Thursday. On Friday another LA-based esports organization—NRG Esports—announced that it had taken over CLG’s League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) and its slot in the franchised league for North America. Further, the company said that CLG parent company Madison Square Garden Entertainment (MSGE) had taken a non-controlling minority stake in the organization as part of the deal (the amount was not disclosed). CLG also let all of its other competitive rosters go, along with support staff. READ MORE.
Straight TEA: It was another tough week for the esports industry as Counter Logic Gaming—or as it is called now—CLG officially shut down as a company and a brand, and dumped a majority of its staff. The influx of esports industry creatives and professionals into an already over-saturated pool of talent due to layoffs off earlier in the year is not going to bode well for job seekers. Many will likely leave the space because the places where one would want to work—particularly in Los Angeles where it is armageddon for many of the top esports organizations due to cuts and layoffs—just has too many displaced workers vying for jobs.
Sentinels Not Seeking LCS Slot at This Time
A rumor circulated earlier this week that LA-based esports organization Sentinels was on the hunt to purchase a slot for the LCS from a distressed local esports organization—or that it was at least talking to Riot Games about pricing. But it turns out these rumors are simply not true, or at least not at this very moment. Given reports on the state of TSM and CLG (prior to NRG’s announcement) there was some speculation that either MrBeast or Sentinels might pick up a slot at a discount. The Esports Advocate can confirm that the rumors about Sentinels are simply not true. READ MORE.
Straight TEA: While it would make sense that Sentinels would want to join another league run by Riot, given its success in Valorant, the organization is likely being frugal as it watches a lot of others in the same town really struggling to stay afloat. Spending money on a new franchise without some help from an outside investor or partner like what NRG did with MSGE seems like a terrible idea.
Gfinity’s Record-Breaking Growth in Esports Stymied by Continuing Losses
UK-based esports company Gfinity posted its unaudited earnings report for the six-month period (H2 2022) ended Dec. 31, 2022. In it the company highlighted a 26% yoy increase in revenues to £4.11M ($5.12M USD). Despite this, Gfinity still generated a net loss of £1.77M ($2.21M) and continued its trend of posting a net loss for every reported six-month period since going public in December 2014. READ MORE
Straight TEA: Gfinity tried to top-load the great numbers for H2 2022 in a release announcing the results, and some publications took the bait and wrote positive coverage, while also forgetting to actually dig into the numbers. The totality of those numbers matter and it’s time that the media does its job in telling the truth so the rest of the industry (VCs, decision makers, the general public) can finally make informed decisions rooted in reality.
People on the Move
Here is this week’s list of promotions, hires, and departures in the gaming/esports industry:
Esports:
Travis Niedergerke joins eFuse as director of content. He previously worked at Spacestation Gaming and the St. Louis Cardinals.
Tom McCracken has left his role as COO & CFO at Nerd Street Gamers to join Urban Outfitters.
Former LeagueSpot Chief Revenue Officer & Chief Operating Officer JD Healy lands at Mitchell Martin Inc.
Sam Muth joins TSM as its new partnerships presentation designer.
Kariann Tan has stepped down from her role as GM of DETONATE, but is still part of the leadership group and will continue to advise the org.
Tracy Parkes has been appointed interim head of esports at the Golden State Warriors.
Gaming:
Jason Yang has left his role as strategic operations & finance at Riot Games to join Wizards of the Coast (next week).
Robin Silk is promoted to game producer at Riot Games.
Olia Fadeeva is promoted to EMEA product lead for League of Legends at Riot Games.
Kate Anderson has resigned from Blizzard in protest of its policies.
Nikolay Valchev joins Blizzard as a senior world artist. He previously worked at Ubisoft Sofia as a 3D environment artist.
Other:
Rebekah Valentine has been promoted to the role of senior reporter at IGN.
Ben Fawkes has been laid off from his role as president of digital content at DraftKings-owned VSiN.
Oliver Parsons joins Gallant Culture as director of partnerships & strategic accounts.
In Other News
🧢 The World Series of Warzone returns in 2023 with $1.2M in total prizing.
📺 Call of Duty League to be broadcast on both YouTube and Twitch.
🤝🏼PIVOT Agency inks a deal with Golden State Warriors’ esports organizations.
✂ OverActive Media makes some strategic cuts to its staff.
⏸ TSM reportedly pauses some of its competitive esports efforts.
🍻 BLAST partners with ZOWIE and Pernod Ricard-owned alcohol brands for the Paris Major.
💪🏼NetEase platform Buff partners with Rare Atom’s CS:GO squad.
🎲 TALON Esports partners with gray market gambling outfit 1xBET.