Former Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP Group) executive Jonas Gundersen announced Monday that he has joined the International Esports Federation (IESF) as a senior advisor. Gundersen said that this new advisory role is part of his “desire to help bridge countries, continents, people, and stakeholders all the way from grassroots to the top of esports, to push esports forward for everyone.”
Gundersen left his role as the western division group chief operating officer at NIP Group in March, after more than four years at the company, to launch an esports and gaming consultancy firm called Continuum X Group. Prior to joining NIP Group, Gundersen held executive roles at North Esports, Graduateland, and Aftecloud, among others, but he is best known for his time as a professional poker player and coach, and his time (2001 – 2005) as a Counter-Strike 1.6 player at SK Gaming.
Here’s more on why Gundersen thinks working with the IESF is a good fit for him:
“In what capacity a federation is needed is very much a debate in our new industry, where the nature of our business is that no single entity owns the rights. The publishers own the game IPs, and our ecosystem is co-dependent on each other to continue building mutual value that benefits all.
“To me it’s about moderation, collaboration, facilitation, and a forum for a broader way of looking at esports, that hopefully helps capture the great momentum of the fantastic initiatives happening at the top, propelling it all the way down to the grassroots, enabling hundreds of thousands of operators and athletes on the grassroots level, to work with esports in a sustainable way. Rather than talking about one governing body for esports as a whole, I think it’s more about each stakeholder collaborating towards a more cohesive ecosystem, that still leaves room for growth, individuality and creativity. Esports needs many different kinds of products, and I definitely believe in national based ones having huge merit towards pushing the entire ecosystem forward, from the bottom up.”
The IESF has deep financial and political ties to Saudi Arabia in 2024. Saudi Arabia’s HRH Prince Faisal currently serves as the president of the IESF, as well as the founder and president of the Saudi Esports Federation, and as VP of the Global Esports Federation. In March, the IESF announced that the 2024 World Esports Championship would feature a total prize pool of $1M USD. The 2024 WEC will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from Nov. 11 – 16. That prize pool was enhanced through the cooperation of the IESF and the local host federation this year, the Saudi Esports Federation.
There was some concern about the safety of participants from the LGBTQ+ community who could potentially be attending this event, with some federation leaders saying publicly that they could not guarantee anyone’s safety while in Riyadh. In March, IESF President Faisal was quick to tell member federations that the safety of all participants was not a concern.