{"id":605490,"date":"2023-02-07T07:49:50","date_gmt":"2023-02-07T13:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/07\/how-the-layoffs-at-100-thieves-underscore-esports-creator-executive-leadership-problems\/"},"modified":"2023-02-07T07:49:50","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T13:49:50","slug":"how-the-layoffs-at-100-thieves-underscore-esports-creator-executive-leadership-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/07\/how-the-layoffs-at-100-thieves-underscore-esports-creator-executive-leadership-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"How the layoffs at 100 Thieves underscore esports\u2019 creator-executive leadership problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s an oft-repeated truism<\/a> that creative types don\u2019t always make the best business leaders<\/a>. Nowhere is this more apparent than the esports industry, whose former-pro-gamer executives often lack the commercial nous and marketing smarts to transform their hype-fueled brands into sustainable companies.<\/p>\n

Many of today\u2019s leading esports organizations were founded by pro gamers, initially taking the form of gaming clans or YouTube content collectives rather than full-fledged businesses. As venture capitalists started to invest millions of dollars into esports teams over the past few years, their creator\u2013founders tended to stay at the helm \u2014\u00a0for better or worse.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWithout these companies being creator-led to begin with, they would not come close to the valuations that that they eventually got,\u201d said esports industry insider Rod \u201cSlasher\u201d Breslau. \u201cThe downside, however, is that most of them are not business people.\u201d<\/p>\n

These challenges were on full display on Jan. 10, when the leading esports organization 100 Thieves laid off roughly 30 of its employees<\/a> \u2014\u00a0or roughly 15 percentage of its workforce, mostly across its content and partnership departments. The wave came six months after dozens of staffers were laid off in July. Representatives from 100 Thieves did not return multiple requests for comment.<\/p>\n

One of the good ones<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Esports organizations have long been notorious for elevating professional gamers to more business-focused senior executive roles \u2014\u00a0and for suffering scandals as a result.<\/p>\n

Richard \u201cBanks\u201d Bengston, the former chief operating officer of FaZe Clan<\/a>, dragged the company into controversies involving cryptocurrency schemes<\/a> and illegal gambling<\/a> before stepping down in May 2022. At TSM, CEO Andy \u201cReginald\u201d Dinh was fined by Riot Games last year<\/a> over allegations that he verbally abused some of his employees. Some workers in the esports industry are beginning to lump 100 Thieves founder and former pro \u201cCall of Duty\u201d player Matthew \u201cNadeshot\u201d Haag into that group, too. <\/p>\n

Haag did not immediately return requests for comment.<\/p>\n

100 Thieves was Haag\u2019s brainchild, but his leadership style was flawed, according to former staffers, who told Digiday that Haag treated some coworkers rudely, prioritized his passion projects over 100 Thieves\u2019 money-making partnership business and failed to professionally communicate the company\u2019s business plans.<\/p>\n

Haag founded 100 Thieves in 2017 and now serves as both the CEO and public face of the company, which is considered one of the most popular esports brands in the world. Backed by $120 million in venture funding<\/a>, 100 Thieves counts Drake, Scooter Braun and Dan Gilbert among its ownership group, as well as Haag and his fellow creator\u2013owners, the popular streamers Rachell \u201cValkyrae\u201d Hofstetter and Jack \u201cCouRageJD\u201d Dunlop. The org has won numerous titles in games such as \u201cCall of Duty\u201d and \u201cLeague of Legends\u201d and was valued at $460 million<\/a> during its latest funding round in December 2021.<\/p>\n

100 Thieves built a reputation as one of the good ones \u2014 an esports organization genuinely well-positioned to function as a business in the long term. The company has a robust M&A strategy<\/a>, and its streetwear-inspired merchandise has often sold out in a matter of days. In 2019, The Verge referred to 100 Thieves as \u201cthe Supreme of esports<\/a>;\u201d last year, Forbes ranked it as the second-most-valuable<\/a> esports org in the world.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s beginning to look like a completely different company. The latest layoffs left at least one department \u2014\u00a0content production \u2014\u00a0\u201calmost completely gone,\u201d according to a former 100 Thieves staffer, one of six who spoke to Digiday and requested anonymity over fears that speaking out could jeopardize future esports job opportunities. Of the 188 employees at 100 Thieves that are publicly listed<\/a>, many are contracted, part-time or no longer work there.<\/p>\n

Moreover, 100 Thieves\u2019 positive public image belied a culture of confusion and executive mismanagement, according to four former employees of the company.<\/p>\n

Haag used his time and resources to prioritize expanding his own passion projects, including an energy drink<\/a> called Juvee and a game development studio<\/a>, over the partnership business necessary to keep 100 Thieves chugging along, according to three former employees.<\/p>\n

And this passion clouded his ability to hear, and act on, critical feedback, even from other C-level executives, former employees told Digiday. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn general, there\u2019s a bit of a culture of fear,\u201d a second former staffer told Digiday. \u201cNobody wants to step out of line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four of the former 100 Thieves staffers who spoke to Digiday for this report expressed misgivings about the long-term viability of Juvee, but said that 100 Thieves management ignored these concerns. While the long-term viability of Juvee is yet to be determined, the gaming energy drink space is already somewhat saturated with competitors such as G Fuel and Rogue Energy and any consumer packaged goods business comes with high overhead costs for shipping and manufacturing.<\/p>\n

Haag\u2019s lack of trained business experience also occasionally came out in the way he communicated company strategy to 100 Thieves staff. 100 Thieves bundles its creators\u2019 social followings to create a team-wide total to share with investors and partners, which is\u00a0a standard practice among large esports orgs<\/a>. But during one all-hands meeting, Haag referred to this practice as \u201cselling them some snake oil,\u201d according to two former staffers.<\/p>\n

Passion over profits<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Haag\u2019s mercurial approach to 100 Thieves directly impacted its partnership business, according to two former employees of the company. Many of the org\u2019s brand partners expected Haag to feature heavily alongside 100 Thieves\u2019 other creators in the org\u2019s branded content and activations \u2014\u00a0but as 100 Thieves grew and its sponsorship obligations expanded, Haag\u2019s participation in branded content declined noticeably.<\/p>\n

In recent months, Haag and other prominent 100 Thieves members such as Dunlop have rarely participated in branded content, according to a fourth former staffer. \u201cI think that\u2019s why a lot of the viewership has been lost \u2014 because they have all this different talent that\u2019s there,\u201d said a third former staffer. \u201cThey\u2019re like, \u2018who are these people? This isn\u2019t what we signed up for.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the past six months, viewership of 100 Thieves\u2019 YouTube channel declined by 12.39 percent and engagement with partnered videos on 100 Thieves\u2019 YouTube channel declined by 54.55 percent, according to the data platform GEEIQ<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Six of 100 Thieves\u2019 brand partners did not renew their contracts with the org in 2022, according to GEEIQ: Rocket Mortgage, Omen by HP, Dollar Shave Club, Rockstar Energy, StockX and CashApp. Rockstar Energy owner PepsiCo declined to comment on its reasons for ending the partnership with 100 Thieves, and the other brands did not immediately return requests for comment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the moment, brand partnerships account for the overwhelming majority<\/a> of most esports organizations\u2019 revenue. Although 100 Thieves president and COO John Robinson told Digiday in January 2022<\/a> that the company\u2019s revenue streams were split evenly between partnerships and apparel sales, two former employees informed Digiday that partnerships formed the bulk of the company\u2019s revenues, as they do for other large esports orgs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve run into literally the same issues as every other organization, except that they have made 100 times the splash as everybody else,\u201d Breslau said. \u201cSo it appears they are more successful than everybody else, and I don\u2019t think that, financially, that is backed up by the merch drops.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pivoting away from branded content<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Yet 100 Thieves appears to be deprioritizing the partnership and branded content side of its business in 2023. The organization is moving away from its current, more robust partnership approach, which includes custom content and brand integrations, toward more of a traditional sports sponsorship model focused on naming rights and jersey logo slaps, according to two former staffers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re taking the gas pedal off the whole YouTube content thing because the numbers are just doing very poor recently, so I think they\u2019re focusing way more on esports,\u201d said a fourth former 100 Thieves staffer. \u201cIt\u2019s feeling more like a traditional sports company.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company acknowledged its financial situation as recently as December 2021, when Robinson told Dexerto<\/a> that reaching profitability was not 100 Thieves\u2019 top priority. 100 Thieves\u2019 rapid rise, followed by its successive rounds of layoffs, form a cautionary tale about the dark side of the esports industry\u2019s predilection with creator\u2013executives and what happens when the reins aren\u2019t relinquished. <\/p>\n

\u201c90 percent of [esports] revenue is in brand sponsorships and activations \u2014 and we have so much trouble finding other ways of revenue,\u201d Breslau said. \u201cConsidering these are our biggest problems, they are only compounded further by having half of the biggest organizations, by valuation, started by creators that do not have training or experience in these fields.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Alexander Lee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s an oft-repeated truism that creative types don\u2019t always make the best business leaders. Nowhere is this more apparent than the esports industry, whose former-pro-gamer executives often lack the commercial nous and marketing smarts to transform their hype-fueled brands into sustainable companies.Many of today\u2019s leading esports organizations were founded by pro gamers, initially taking the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":605491,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27291,46,30463],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-605490","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-layoffs","8":"category-technology","9":"category-thieves"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}