eUnited Closes, More Layoffs at 100 Thieves

Photo by Timon Studler on Unsplash

Hey everyone, it’s been a rough week for the esports industry as more people find themselves out of work and thrust into an already over-saturated job market. Not a good time for these people so if you have job openings let me know and I’ll share them with my network.

On another topic, I mucked around a bit with ChatGPT and ended up using it to build out the HTML code for the bulleted list this week… though there were a few hiccups it worked out pretty well. I think AI is great for taking tedious tasks like this off my plate so I can focus on writing. I won’t ever use it for writing actual copy, because I enjoy doing it, it will only create boring lines of text, and robots don’t have souls.

Anyway, onto this week’s People on the Move. – James Fudge.

Note: This articles first appeared in the People on the Move newsletter on Jan. 14, 2022.

Layoffs, Closures, and Other Esports News

After some digging this week and talking to a number of people, I confirmed that Los Angeles esports organization eUnited had closed its doors – I wrote extensively about it this week for The Esports Advocate. I also wrote about the recent layoffs at another LA-based esports organization, 100 Thieves. Around 30 people were let go in a new round of layoffs. Very sad news.

Some other interesting news bits that aren’t sad:

• eStar Gaming Victory Five completed its merger with Ninjas in Pyjamas.
• Riot revealed the format for League of Legends esports in 2023.
• SA Dota DPC and LPL sponsors were revealed this week.
• Team Vitality inked three-year deal with Hummel International.

People on the Move

Here is this week’s list of promotions, hires, and departures in the gaming/esports industry:

Esports:

• Rob Gedarovich joins Riot Games as senior manager, social media marketing – Esports.
• Luke Jones joins Guild Esports as director of esports and gaming.
• Hennes Heijmans leaves his role as talent manager at G2 Esports after more than two years.
• York Scheunemann leaves Google to join Bayes Esports as chief operating officer.
• Riley Alexis Wood is no longer with Nerd Street Gamer as a broadcast producer.
• Lance Warner joins Oxygen Esports to spearhead marketing & socials for both Boston Breach and Boston Uprising.
• Leo Lin has been promoted to president of global mobile growth at Riot Games.
• Rana Kaplan is promoted to general manager at FaZe Clan.
• Damian Mathews resigns from his roles as COO and CFO at Esports Entertainment Group.
• Jordan Sherman is no longer the CEO of Immortals.
• Guild Esports promotes Jasmine Skee to CEO.
• Luke Jones joins Guild Esports to take on the role of director of esports and gaming.
• Nick Westwood joins Guild Esports as its new senior vice president.
• Georgia Morison joins Guild Esports as the new head of events and HQ.
• Jacob Arce is promoted to head of esports at XSET.
• David Luce joins the XSET team as its new chief content officer.
• Jessica Pak was one of the 30+ people laid off at 100 Thieves this week. Pak served as a senior account manager, and has worked for Team Liquid, IGN, Turner, and Turner Sports.
• Trevor Lazaroo joins Singapore-based esports organization RSG as a business development associate.
• Craig Stevens leaves Belong Gaming to join sister company Esports Engine as its new senior project and planning manager.
• Thomas Trewren (“Tommey”), who most recently played for 100 Thieves, will now be represented by DotX Talent.

Gaming:

• David Jagneaux joins First Contact Entertainment as its new strategic communications manager.
• Kerry McKenna joins Gravity Media as audio lead, working with Riot Games.
• Lance Teo leaves Activision Blizzard after more than six years at the company. He most recently served as regional marketing lead for SEA & India.
• Carissa Gonzalez is promoted to CEO of Pixelberry Studios.
• Mike Brown joins Maverick Games as creative director.
• Joey Paul is promoted to strategy manager at Rockstar Games.
• Sebastian Ärleryd has joined Epic Games as a tools engineer.
• Chris Groves leave Frontier Developments to join Sumo Digital as its new senior community manager.
• Gabriel Aigner joins Razer as a social media specialist.
• Petra L. joins Stunlock Studios as its new content marketing manager.
• Kieran O’Leary is promoted to chief revenue officer at Gameloft.
• Jim Squires is promoted to director of games PR at Resolution Games.
• Sean McKenna leaves Dapper Labs to join NetEase Games as senior recruiter.

Other:

• Albert Briggs is promoted to the role of brand partnerships manager – growth gaming at TikTok.
• Craig Santicchia joins gaming & esports consultancy firm Wolfpad Gaming Ltd as managing director.
• Dominick Namis says goodbye to Meta and hello to NeoPeople as head of business development.
• Karl Ögland joins Gameplan as a content creator.
• Hilary Adams is promoted to senior director of event experience for Phoenix Raceway & Auto Club Speedway (NASCAR West Region).
• Giulia Mazzia is promoted to global head of partnerships at AC Milan.
• Julian Elliby II is no longer at Loaded.
• Andie Wright leaves Twitter to join Spotify as a client account manager.
• Darius Gotay was laid off by RESPAWN Products this week and is seeking new opportunities. He served as social media and content manager at the company.
• Jason Wilson leaves his role as esports editor at Sports Business Journal to focus on editing and building the company’s myriad of newsletter products.
• Sally Kevan joins Esports Insider as events manager.
• Billy Studholme re-joins the Esports Insider editorial team as assistant editor.
• Kevin Warren has been named president and CEO of the Chicago Bears.
• Grant Taylor-Hill leaves his role as an SEO content lead editor writing about esports to join Sky as group platform control principal problem manager.
• Cristian Nyari joins Apple to work on sports business revenue optimization.
• Emily Morrow has left her role as a staff writer at DotEsports.