Teams at risk after mass layoffs at The Guard

The American esports organization The Guard recently laid off a big portion of its staff. Now the Overwatch League and Call of Duty League teams could also be affected at the end of the season if they are not sold.

The Guard is just the latest company to be hit by layoffs in the gaming industry. The parent organization seeks to sell two of its teams, namely the Los Angeles Gladiators from the Overwatch League and the LA Guerrillas from the Call of Duty League. The two esports teams will need to be sold before the end of the year to stay in their respective leagues. Failure to find a buyer by the end of the season could result in both teams being discontinued.

The Guard is laying off workers en masse

The Guard, which has teams in Overwatch, VALORANT, Call of Duty, Apex Legends, and Halo, recently laid off its entire staff. While the reasons aren’t entirely clear, just like with other companies, it may be for financial reasons. Fears of inflation and lack of revenue have also prompted other organizations to cut jobs.

Among those are OpTic Gaming, 100 Thieves, and FaZe Clan, but not to the same extent as The Guard. The Guard’s parent company is Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, which operates sports teams in the NFL, Arsenal FC in the Premier League, and Colorado Rapids in the MLS.

According to multiple reports, The Guard has laid off most of its employees, including content creators, social media managers, HR, the creative department, and many more. The teams’ players remain, however, and a former The Guard staffer claims management for the teams remains busy.

RamBeau comments on the situation

RamBeau, who competes for The Guard in Apex Legends, revealed in a stream that the team will remain with the company but can explore other options.

RamBeau said on the stream:

“Unfortunately everyone got fired from their job except for the competitive teams. At the moment I’m still signed to The Guard as a professional player. They want to keep us, they want us to keep playing for them. They said they would like to do that. But we are also allowed to look for another organization.”

How are the teams doing now?

The LA Guerrillas have started their season in the Call of Duty League, and the LA Gladiators’ season in the Overwatch League is scheduled to start later in the spring. However, The Guard is listing both teams for sale to recoup some of the franchise fees under Activision-Blizzard’s esports system.

Everything indicates that Kroenke Sports and Entertainment could potentially exit esports altogether. That could be an early sign that other traditional esports investors are getting more nervous about the current state of the tech and gaming industries. Should Kroenke Sports and Entertainment find a buyer for both teams, the selling price could be a losing proposition.