Evil Geniuses quits Counter-Strike

Evil Geniuses, the company that made history in games like Dota 2 and CS:GO, has now abandoned both esports and might be headed for an even bigger collapse. It seems that succeeding in esports is much harder than people think, and a series of poor decisions can lead to a massive financial defeat.

Based on the team’s results, it’s not a big surprise that EG ended up making this move. We haven’t seen EG’s Counter-Strike team winning a proper tournament since June 2020. Three and a half years is a long time in this industry.

Normally, when you’ve signed good players and are paying high salaries, you expect something good to happen every year. Even one trophy can keep your fanbase happy in some cases. But for EG, that didn’t happen.

EG’s results in 2023

What’s strange is that North America is one of the weakest regions in the world at the moment, both in Counter-Strike and Dota 2. To fail as miserably as EG did last year in a region like this is a clear sign that the team’s management messed up when picking the roster members.

EG started the year by finishing 21^st – 24^th at IEM Katowice. Then they finished 28^th – 32^nd at ESL Pro League S17. From there, thigs got even worse and the team didn’t even qualify for the Paris Major. And then at IEM Dallas, they were among the last several teams again (13^th – 16^th). ESL Pro League S18, where they finished 21^st – 28^th, was their last high-level failure.

After that came even more ridiculous results, which proved that EG no longer has a tier-1 Counter-Strike team. The fans probably hoped that the project would continue for at least one more year, or that the roster would be revitalized by someone like Jacky “Stewie2K” Yip. But he never came back.

#EGCSGO 2022

🇺🇸 @Stewie
🇺🇸 @Brehze
🇺🇸 @autimaticTV
🇺🇸 @RUSH
🇧🇬 @CeRq
🇫🇷 @DamienMarcel (Coach)#LIVEEVIL

— EG CSGO (@EvilGeniusesCS) January 20, 2022

He seems to be enjoying his new career as a streamer, which is a shame considering how good he was in his prime. He’s just 26 years old and could potentially compete for at least five more years. Perhaps if EG ends his contract, he will be forced to reconsider. Until then, there’s not much hope that we will see him competing again.

Coming back to EG, the organization is reportedly in a lot of trouble in Valorant as well, despite having a roster that won VALORANT Champions 2023 in August last year, in addition to numerous other S-tier events.

The players complained that they weren’t allowed to join other organizations and were required to accept pay cuts to compensate for EG’s difficulties on the financial side. It remains to be seen if Riot Games will punish this behavior.

Header: Evil Geniuses