The Esports Advocate has learned that a number of employees were laid off last week at Washington-based esports organization Evil Geniuses. A majority of the layoffs are related to employees on the content creation side of the business and its marketing department, according to multiple posts on social media from affected employees (who we have decided not to name in this article to protect their privacy). While we can not confirm how many employees have been affected by this recent round of layoffs, anecdotal evidence–multiple social media posts from former EG personnel looking for work–suggests that the number is likely in the double digits.
We reached out to EG public relations and EG CEO Nicole LaPointe Jameson for confirmation and further comment but no one at the company responded to our request for comments as of this writing.
EG is owned by private investment and technology firm PEAK6, who acquired the organization for an undisclosed amount in May of 2019.
The organization currently fields competitive teams in League of Legends Championship Series (LCS), Rocket League, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, DOTA 2, LCS Academy, Valorant, and sponsors top fighting game players Dominique “SonicFox” McLean, Jon “dekillsage” Coello, and Ricki “Ricki” Ortiz. In addition, EG also has a number of top content creators under its Creator Collective banner including ARUUU, Lisa Wallen, Jake Yip, and Justin Kats.
EG’s list of sponsors and partners includes Premier League team the Wolverhampton Wanderers (Wolves), Monster Energy, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, LG Ultragear, Seattle-based Elysian Brewing, Secretlab, luxury company TUMI, crypto-based casino Bitcasino.io, Acer’s Predator computer brand, and AB InBev brand Bud Light.