The End Of Evil Geniuses?
A number of stories public and behind the scenes are unfolding that point to a potential exit for the one time esports giant. We break them down here.
2023 has been a tough year for many in esports as the ongoing market correction has claimed thousands of jobs across the industry. Few have had it worse than Evil Geniuses, who through a combination of economic downturn and reported executive incompetence have found themselves on the brink of total disaster. Last week saw a number of stories unfold that heavily suggest we may be witnessing the beginning of the end for the organisation. Here’s the latest on what we know.
Layoffs
On the 1st November Evil Geniuses terminated the contracts of multiple staff members as the beleaguered esports organisation continues to downsize. Sources within the organisation have stated that the likelihood is that this comes ahead of the parent company, Peak6 capital, exiting the esports space and selling EG’s remaining assets to interested buyers.
Among the casualties were Vice President of Operations & Studio John Jung and Senior Director of Gaming & Performance Lindsey Migliore. Jung, who had been with the company for two years, confirmed his departure on x.com saying “Today is my last day at Evil Geniuses. Best of luck to everyone laid off today. It was a pleasure working with you all.”
Migliore did not make a statement but updated her LinkedIn to confirm her departure.
In addition to the cuts from the c-suite it was also confirmed that the organisation’s Dota 2 team and support staff had also been let go from the organisation. The mostly Peruvian line-up joined in November of 2022 and mostly struggled to achieve any notable results in their time. Their departure was also confirmed on X.com with a lengthy statement from the team manager Vitoria "Guashineen" Otero. “Today many layoffs happened at EG” they said “and its very unlikely that they acquire a new roster. As for me, I'm now looking for new opportunities. I know next year will be very exciting with new tournaments and many orgs that are coming into dota.”
In a later exchange she joked that the organisation had “threw everyone out.”
Our sources tell us that this will not be the last of the cuts as currently the organisation is planning to remove further teams.
“They’ll plan to just stay in Riot titles” they explained “so that means they’ll keep the men’s Counterstrike team until December and will likely cut the women’s teams before that.”
Financial Restructuring
Sources familiar with Evil Geniuses business operations have also informed this publication that they, via the way of their parent company, have retained the services of the Chicago based financial advisory company Development Specialists Incorporated. Their firm overview describes the business as “a leading provider of management consulting and financial advisory services to companies in need of operational improvements, balance sheet restructuring or turnaround management.” It also lists itself as offering the following services: Restructuring advisory services, corporate finance, forensic accounting litigation support and expert testimony as well as third-party fiduciary services.
It’s not clear from this alone whether or not the plan is to entirely liquidate the organisation and then sell on the brand to interested parties or to downsize operations considerably but with ongoing efforts to sell their LCS slot and Valorant players underway the former looks increasingly likely.
We have attempted to contact Development Specialists Incorporated for comment but have yet to receive one. We shall update the article accordingly if one is forthcoming
Staff Complaints
Evil Geniuses once again made negative headlines when a report at Dot Esports detailed working conditions within the organisation comparing it to “jail with snacks.” The report is of course completely in line with our own investigations, undertaken after interviewing close to two dozen former and current employees at all levels of the company. The staff complaints continue to paint a picture of incompetence and exploitative attitudes when it comes to working practices.
The report also confirmed that there’s now only a handful of staff who remain running the organisation, called a “skeleton crew” in the article, which again lends credence to the likelihood that the organisation will be winding down operations once it has been able to come to an agreement with Riot Games regarding the potential sale and allocation of the League of Legends and Valorant slots in their partnered league.
Community Backlash
It’s not just staff members disgruntled with the antics of Evil Geniuses management, the Rocket League community also joined the groups with grievances. As part of their continued downsizing EG dropped Elyse "Herculyse" Herrera, a Rocket League commentator and content creator who joined in October last year. As she herself explained on X.com this was done due to the tournament series losing “all sponsorship and partnership” leading to the last four events in the series being canceled. That was October 12th.
The Rocket League community, having a significant teenage audience, never needs much of an excuse to get involved in social media histrionics and so EG and Chevron were both the recipients of messages criticising the organisation for, among other things, “snake” like behaviour.
This resulted in the announcement being deleted but the matter was brought further into the spotlight when Spacestation Gaming saw an opportunity to capitalise and announced their own collegiate focused Rocket League event, working with Herrera, the following day.
Lost Sponsorship
We have documented before the number of sponsors that have left the organisation as the ongoing esports market correction takes place. This week our sources indicated that they were in the process of losing another one, this time in the form of the upcoming esports fantasy site Thunderpick.
The Cryptocurrency betting and casino platform Thunderpick have had something of a meteoric rise in esports, partnering with a number of influencers, coverage outlets and even having completed their own World Championship earlier this month. The partnership was announced in may this year as applying to all the organisation’s Counter-strike teams. This was then expanded in September for the now defunct Dota 2 team.
Our sources told us that the partnership is now on rocky ground as EG failed to meet a number of the agreements as well as the continual negative publicity factoring into their decision.
“When they partnered up it was with the belief that [the org] had four CS teams” a source familiar with the deal explained “but they dropped that down to two. They then added the Dota 2 team as a makeweight and now they have gone.”
Although Thunderpick continues to be displayed as a sponsor on the website the source indicated renewal was highly unlikely.
LCS Slot Sale
Finally there is the ongoing matter of the sale of their League of Legends partnered slot, which has been shopped around behind the scenes for some time. It’s not exactly a secret that it is for sale with former CEO Lapointe Jameson saying in her departure interview with Digiday “Everything’s for sale, for the right price… There’s always opportunities; we’re always looking. Right now, I can say that the plan going forward will definitely be Chris and the board’s call, but I don’t think the open-mindedness to good opportunities will ever change.”
It is this publication’s understanding that the sale has been a matter of priority for the remaining management team and a deal is in the works. The most likely buyer at this stage, provided a number of checks and agreements are met under the supervision of Riot Games, would be Enthusiast Gaming, the parent company behind the esports brand Luminosity Gaming.
“The deal isn’t done yet” a source familiar with the negotiations told us “but it’s quite far along in the process and Enthusiast is currently the preferred buyer.”
A secondary source stated that there were indeed advanced talks with a buyer but that the deal had been postponed by them, perhaps as a price negotiating technique. The source wouldn’t confirm if it was Enthusiast Gaming or not.
As League of Legends remains the largest esports property in the world exiting from that would really be a signal of intent for the strategy of the organisation. The only question that would remain is what would happen to the brand itself and would anyone want to acquire it at this stage.
You got "according to a report by Richard Lewis"ed again by HLTV. Keep up the good work.
I guess the moral of the story in esports can be summed up as "Never work with PEAK6."