Danish Esports Organization North Steps Down From Esports, CS:GO Roster Disbands
- North has ceased all its esports operations after both Parken Sport & Entertainment and Nordisk Film decided to wind up the joint esports company.
- The Danish esports organization has made all its CS:GO players free agents while still continue to compete in FIFA with F.C. Copenhagen taking over that department.
- North steps down from esports 4 years after its inception on January 2017 citing the global health situation as the problem.
The Danish esports organization North has stepped away from esports permanently just four years after its inception in January 2017. The organization which was a joint esports company between football club F.C. Copenhagen and entertainment company Nordisk Film was largely affected due to the global health situation that developed last year, due to which “Parken Sport & Entertainment (F.C. Copenhagen’s parent company) and Nordisk Film have chosen to stop investing in the esports company North and instead focus on their core businesses.” This also marks the end of North’s CS:GO lineup who had failed to achieve anything significant in 2020.
“We are of course sorry that we now have to close the Danish-based esports company North, which has left a nice mark in international esports," says Lars Bo Jeppesen, chairman of North and director of Parken Sport & Entertainment.
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North Ceases All Esports Operations
The Danish esports organization has folded after its esports affiliates decided to “wind up the joint esports company, North”. This also marks the end of their CS:GO lineup which consisted of the following members,
- Nicklas “gade” Gade
- Rene “cajunb” Borg
- Jonas “Lekr0” Olofsson
- Kristoffer “kristou” Aamand
- Denis “grux” Gutaj
- Jimmy “Jumpy” Berndtsso [Coach]
However, the FIFA department of the North will still continue to operate and grow under F.C. Copenhagen who will be taking over them completely, in order to still be a part of the eSuperliga.
Lars Bo Jeppesen, chairman of North and director of Parken Sport & Entertainment reveals that they did search the market for suitable co-investors to come on board the project, but failed to find a suitable match.
“It will require significant continued investment to create a sustainable business in the future and therefore we believe that the sole responsibility for our overall business is to focus all our focus on our core business in FC Copenhagen, Parken and Lalandia, just as Nordisk Film will focus on its large core and growth businesses.”
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North CS:GO Roster Disbands
North had entered the competitive CS:GO circuit in January 2017 after having successfully signed the ex-Dignitas roster. In their first year itself, the team had managed to finish as the runners-up at ESL Pro League Season 5 - Finals and DreamHack Masters Malmo 2017, while also managing a win at DreamHack Open Montreal 2017.
This was followed by much bigger achievements in 2018 as the team after acquiring the services of Markus "Kjaerbye" Kjaerbye went on to win DreamHack Open Valencia 2018 and DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018.
2019 was a huge dip for North who won just two mid-tier tournaments GG.Bet Ice Challenge 2019 and DreamHack Open Sevilla 2019. Cracks started to appear in late 2020 when North made huge changes to their outlook as a team and reworked the salary structure to help sustain their business better.
The CS:GO lineup has been allowed to look for other opportunities and it will be interesting to see if any of them get picked up or signed by an organization right before the competitive season really kicks off.
Lars Bo Jeppesen concludes by saying that “It is still uncertain when a reopening after Covid-19 is realistic, so we can get customers back. There is still potential in esports and gaming, but the time horizon is long and uncertain, and Covid-19 has moved the time horizon further years into the future according to our assessment.”
