This Week in Esports Business, April 17 - 22, 2023
FaZe plans reverse stock split, DreamHack San Diego brings in big money to the local economy.
Will a reverse stock split save FaZe Clan? Will layoffs, divestments, and closures, and change in operations right the ship that is Esports Entertainment Group? How much did DreamHack San Diego generate for the local economy? Will a new CEO make Motorsport Games a better company worth having a partnership with? These and other burning questions mostly go unanswered in this week’s newsletter. LFGO. - James Fudge.
FaZe Holdings Plans Board Meeting for Stock Split Decision
FaZe Clan is seeking approval from its stockholders to consolidate a number of its existing shares in order to regain compliance with Nasdaq listing rules. A filing published Friday by the SEC, revealed that FaZe Clan’s Chairman of the Board Daniel Shribman will invite the company’s stockholders to the 2023 annual shareholders meeting held on June 13 on March 1. The company also noted that it ahs no plans to go private any time soon.
Straight TEA: FaZe Clan is looking for a short-term fix to its Nasdaq compliance problem, but this doesn’t solve the issues of a diminishing bank account, operational costs, and profits that aren’t enough to cover those costs. By year’s end company execs are going to have to make some very difficult decisions which could include further dilution of shares to raise capital, a possible sale, or even bankruptcy. READ MORE.
DreamHack San Diego Generates Millions for the Local Economy
ESL FACEIT Group told The Esports Advocate this week that DreamHack San Diego generated an estimated $4.7M USD in economic impact during the three-day gaming lifestyle festival that took place at San Diego Convention Center from April 7-9. Specific details on how this figure breaks down across various local businesses such as hotels, restaurants, and other retail establishments, were not provided.
Straight TEA: It is always surprising that companies such as Riot Games and Activision Blizzard don’t share these numbers with the public more often, as this is a silver lining in an industry that is seeing a lot of pain right now. Why wouldn’t you want to crow about how your big event can help cities generate millions in revenue for the local economy? Props to ESL FACEIT Group for getting these numbers out into the public. READ MORE.
Layoffs Hit EEG, Community Gaming
New York-based esports tournament platform Community Gaming has laid off approximately 17 employees in North America and Turkey. Community Gaming is a strong proponent of Web3, crypto, esports, and blockchain, and describes itself as an “esports tournament and questing platform…”
Publicly-traded Esports Entertainment Group laid out a plan this week to run leaner—which included cutting some staff, shuttering a few operations, and divesting itself of other operations. The company will also focus hard on esports betting businesses.
Straight TEA: It would be nice to have just one week in 2023 where there aren’t a round of layoffs at multiple companies. In EEG’s case, these moves are a new positive as the company will see a material effect on operating costs, and has put some money back into its pocket with these divestments. We’re not sure that esports betting is a winning proposition for EEG, but only time will tell. READ MORE.
Motosport Games Replaces Longtime CEO
Motorsport Games’ board of directors decided to terminate current CEO Dmitry Kozko and appoint Stephen Hood in his place this week. With his appointment as CEO and President, Hood returns to Motorsport Games—a company he left in January 2022 after serving as its President from April 2019. The board terminated Kozko’s CEO appointment without cause, which means he will continue to serve as a director of the company.
Straight TEA: A lot of partners such as NASCAR have been rumored to be unhappy with the company and the general state of its licensed games. There have been rumors for quite some time that licensees would like nothing better than to walk away from the developer and find new partners. Perhaps Hood’s appointment can calm the waters in that area, but getting the company back into financial shape is a tall order for anyone, even and old hand familiar with the business… READ MORE.
People on the Move
Here is this week’s list of promotions, hires, and departures in the gaming/esports industry:
Esports:
Patricia Lima and Thales Moura join FURIA as diversity & inclusion specialist and head of talent, respectively.
Industry veterans Sashank Bhandaru and Shuchi Kulshreshtha join Skyesports.
Chris Vanderbeek is no longer with Version1 + Minnesota RØKKR. He most recently served as director of events & business operations.
BITKRAFT announced this week that Jin Oh has joined the VC firm as a partner and Jonathan Huang as a principal.
Bailey Cortez has joined Omnia Media/Enthusiast Gaming as a talent manager.
Zach Eller is no longer at OpTic Gaming. He most recently served as director of creative strategy.
Alexander Steiner has been promoted to regional esports manager for Central Europe at Ubisoft.
David Han has been promoted to assistant general manager of League of Legends at Cloud9.
Fabrício Luz is no longer with Garena Brazil. He most recently worked in the PR department at the Free Fire maker.
Stephen Stagliano has left Riot Games to launch Story Games.
Youssef Ashraf has left his role as senior account manager at YaLLa Esports.
Jackie Felling has left her role as head of League of Legends Esports in North America.
Viktor Wanli will step down as CEO of Kinguin, while Brandon Doerfler, Robert Kalbarczyk, and Adam Gruda will serve as rotating/recurring co-CEOs.
Nick Temp is no longer with Cloud9.
Nick Sutton has left Wayne State College to join Harrisburg University of Science and Technology to be the new head Rocket League coach.
Craig Wood has been promoted to senior marketing manager at Tundra Esports.
Bartosz Maćkowiak has been promoted to sales & partnership manager at Streamcoi.
Benj Smith retains his role as head of Frankly Media post merger with GameSquare.
Kristen Delgado has signed on as a contractor on the global influencers team at Riot Games.
Gaming:
Former Blizzard heavyweight Bill Roper is launching his own game studio.
Longtime Halo development leader Joseph Staten is moving on from Microsoft.
Carlos Sanchez joins Probably Monsters as general manager.
Jonathan Bankard co-founds a studio with Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield called Popularium.
Cian Maher joins CD Projekt Red as franchise & lore designer on The Witcher.
Justin “Xenogenic” Hanson has left his role as principal designer on Riot's unnamed MMO.
Other:
Adam Rosenberg joins CTP as its senior director of partnerships & growth.
Chris George has left his longtime role as COO at Vox Media.
Jessica Scharnagle has left DotEsports for a new opportunity.
Issy van der Velde joins Dot Esports as its news editor.
Kate Irwin has been appointed producer for a new Web3 gaming vertical at DeCrypt.
Dani Cross joins GGRecon as a full-time writer.
Conor Lehmkuhl has left TikTok to join Netflix as vertical director of financial services.
Esha Oberoi recently joined YouTube Gaming India as gaming lead, partnerships.
Chad Toprak joined Screen Australia earlier this month as its games investment manager.
Travis Carte joins ASUS ROG in a senior content position.
In Other News
🗺 Riot’s roadmap for esports in 2023 and beyond.
📱 Call of Duty: Mobile joins the Snapdragon Pro Series.
📆 LEC Season Finals set for September.
⚠ Mobile Global Esports gets Nasdaq compliance warning.
🕵🏼♂️ The secrets inside the LCS Spring Finals viewership numbers.
🤝🏼 Meet Epic Games Brasil.