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FWD GAMING
closes operations
As is of July 21, 2019, Forward Gaming has released a statement in which it declares that the organization is closing its operations meaning that all the players are now free agents.
The statement reads:
It’s hard to close a company.
It’s even harder to close the company you’ve founded.
With a heavy heart, I regret to announce that Forward Gaming ceases to exist. As of today, all employees’ contracts are being released and our players become free agents.
I also regret to inform that we have to close the company with the debt remaining owed to the players. Due to insufficient financial results, we are unable to cover players’ salaries for July as well as $36,000 of players’ share of prize money (which was used to partly cover June’s salary).
Back in June we informed players about the company’s state and told them that we might shut down the team right after the Epicenter Major. However, we decided to wait until the end of TI qualifier in the hope that we would be able to overcome our financial difficulties. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
I feel terrible for leaving our guys at the worst moment possible. We tried so hard to provide them with everything we could throughout the year and failed at the very end. This sucks.
I apologize to everyone who put their time and effort into Forward Gaming – our players, employees, and fans. I don’t know how to express our appreciation for your support and incredible dedication. Thank you.
And of course, I wish best of luck to our guys – Yawar, Quinn, Sney, Mojo, Pie, Kurtis and Jack. I hope you’ll kick some ass in Shanghai, will be cheering for you like crazy.
Goodbye guys. All the best.
— David Dashtoyan, CEO
July 21, 2019
Link to statement
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Fairly unsurprising since I don't remember them having any large sponsors or anything.
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Sad to hear, finally another American team doing well and it shuts down. Just weeks before TI...
Solid AM squad up for grabs now.
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they'll be signed by a new organization in no time i think, they are a great team and looking good for the upcoming ti
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Makes me wonder if C9 will pop in for a TI team like NP a few years back. There's also a few other NA teams that have or could dabble in Dota like OpTic, Immortals and 100 Thieves.
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On July 22 2019 09:08 PhoenixVoid wrote:
Makes me wonder if C9 will pop in for a TI team like NP a few years back. There's also a few other NA teams that have or could dabble in Dota like OpTic, Immortals and 100 Thieves.
immortals bought optic and i dont think immortals is interested in renting a dota team for a month
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So they bet on a high enough prizemoney-cut to pay the salaries? Trying to somehow get sponsors in?
Good players, good luck to them.
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So what about TI?
These guys plowed through the qualifiers with ease, what happens to them now?
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On July 22 2019 17:29 Gzerble wrote:
So what about TI?
These guys plowed through the qualifiers with ease, what happens to them now?
They will still be playing there but without an organization behind them...at least for now. I think all the costs related to their flights/hotel accommodation and practice equipment is being sponsored/paid by Valve.
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The return of mouz?... part 4
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I wonder what org could take a squad of players just to be in TI
I really can't think of one...
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lmao if you pay players at a tier2 level more than 36k dollar in salaries per month, of course it's gonna go to this
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Some org will pick them up, it’s happened with virtually every other unsigned squad to make it to TI or a Major
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It's the International. The brand exposure is astronomical, even if you don't wind up doing well. I expect someone like Spacestation to jump in, get the easy marketing numbers, keep the team on for the first major of the TIX season and drop them if results don't pan out. Not complicated, really.
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really really painful to hear that even still players are not being paid what they're owed.
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On July 23 2019 01:54 calippo wrote:
lmao if you pay players at a tier2 level more than 36k dollar in salaries per month, of course it's gonna go to this
its actually 36k in prizemoney
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I always thought running an esports team is "burning money" unless you can find some huge sponsors and cover most of the expenses. We never heard of Forwarding Gaming before so I thought the founder has the capital to fund the team).
Jeremy Lin earned USD64mil up to date and that's why J Storm is able to maintain to make a name in the Dota scene. I think Jeremy Lin loses some money by investing into the team but he has the lifetime earnings to back up the funds. He has the passion for this game and it's good for him that he is willing to invest into the game that we love.
Here is my rough estimate of running a team (in USD):
1) 5 players salaries = $150,000 ($3000 x5 x 10months, maybe more)
2) 1 Coach = $20,000 ($2000 x10months, maybe more)
3) 1 Manager = $20,000 ($2000 x10months, maybe more)
4) Team house rent = $30,000 ($3000 x10months)
5) PC and equipments = $20,000
6) Groceries and food = $30,000 ($3000 x10months, really rough estimate here)
7) Other expense = $5,000
So you need approx $290,000 to run a team for 10 months. The team may get 5-10% cut from tourney earnings (unless you are VP or Secret, the prize money would be in the range of USD100-500k for the year for the whole team and split among 5 players/coach).
It's hard to sustain into esports. Even OpTic is losing money and got bought out by Immortals.
Let's see what new teams we can see after TI concludes.
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On July 23 2019 17:19 Cybuster wrote:
I always thought running an esports team is "burning money" ... Even OpTic is losing money and got bought out by Immortals.
sad to hear about Optic.
I don't know if I feel sorry for any party here becoz post-TI8, the over-performed VGJStorm team were looking at best available offers & I think they rejected one from Optic and decided to go with 'Forward' since they apparently provide something more or better for the players than any other competing bid.
IF so, then Forward just over-extended and the players are still covered since they're in TI.
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On July 23 2019 17:19 Cybuster wrote:
I always thought running an esports team is "burning money" unless you can find some huge sponsors and cover most of the expenses. We never heard of Forwarding Gaming before so I thought the founder has the capital to fund the team).
Jeremy Lin earned USD64mil up to date and that's why J Storm is able to maintain to make a name in the Dota scene. I think Jeremy Lin loses some money by investing into the team but he has the lifetime earnings to back up the funds. He has the passion for this game and it's good for him that he is willing to invest into the game that we love.
Here is my rough estimate of running a team (in USD):
1) 5 players salaries = $150,000 ($3000 x5 x 10months, maybe more)
2) 1 Coach = $20,000 ($2000 x10months, maybe more)
3) 1 Manager = $20,000 ($2000 x10months, maybe more)
4) Team house rent = $30,000 ($3000 x10months)
5) PC and equipments = $20,000
6) Groceries and food = $30,000 ($3000 x10months, really rough estimate here)
7) Other expense = $5,000
So you need approx $290,000 to run a team for 10 months. The team may get 5-10% cut from tourney earnings (unless you are VP or Secret, the prize money would be in the range of USD100-500k for the year for the whole team and split among 5 players/coach).
It's hard to sustain into esports. Even OpTic is losing money and got bought out by Immortals.
Let's see what new teams we can see after TI concludes.
I would expect operating expenses is more like 500k per year as a starting point for a Dota team. And that's just for the players. You'd expect between 750k and 1mil USD to operate a team functionally for 12 months. At least in any of the major Western countries. Would be cheaper in Eastern Europe, but not a lot.
Then, you have to find ways of generating revenue, which is exactly why certain teams operate they way they do. EG and TL aren't cutting promos for sponsors for no reason. An esports team ends up acting like a billboard for advertisers. That's what makes the Professional Scene viable. (With the exception of the CS & FGC communities, all other esports are actually Marketing for the game developers.)
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