Cloud9 Reportedly Signed Entire Gambit Esports CS:GO Roster for $1,000,000 USD
If true, it was a steal deal for the North American esports organization!
Cover-Credits:
The CS:GO roster of Gambit Esports had been competing under the name of Players ever since sanctions were imposed against Russian esports organizations by multiple tournament organizers like BLAST, ESL, PGL, and more.
Following the team's qualification to PGL Antwerp Major 2022, the entire CS:GO roster of Gambit along with two coaches and the team manager were signed by the North American organization Cloud9.
This was huge for both the sides involved, but unlike the time when players had been assembled under the 'Cloud9 Colossus' project and their signing details were made public knowledge, all such information was kept under wraps this time.
However, British esports journalist Duncan "Thorin" Shields in his recent YouTube video claimed that Cloud9 had reportedly signed the entire Gambit Esports CS:GO roster for $1,000,000 USD (INR 7,63,56,700).
Thorin claims that Cloud9 signed the entire Gambit Esports CS:GO roster for one million dollars
Thorin in his recent YouTube upload has given a lot of details about Cloud9's latest acquisition of Gambit Esports' former roster that had been competing under the banner of 'Players'.
The first thing that he highlighted was how Cloud9 did not directly acquire the team from Gambit Esports, rather there was a third party involved (ULTI Agency) which helped with this transaction.
"Now it is worth pointing out for the sake of accuracy that technically Cloud9 didn't actually sign those players from Gambit," states Thorin, "They signed the players from ULTI Agency, who had signed the players from Gambit."
This is something that Jack Etienne - CEO and Founder of Cloud9 had also said earlier during an interview with Sports Business Journal.
Thorin further went on to claim that Cloud9 had signed the entire roster including the two coaches and the team manager for one million dollars.
"A million dollars is what I'm hearing for this whole roster, and then they got two coaches and a manager as well, this is ridiculous," exclaims Thorin.
If true, this is actually a steal deal for Cloud9 considering the fact that the lineup they acquired has been amongst the top five CS:GO teams in the world for a long time now.
To prove the amazing valuation of the deal struck by the North American organization, Thorin made the following comparisons:
After the StarLadder Berlin Major 2019, it had allegedly cost Evil Geniuses about $3,000,000 USD to buy NRG, which was a top-five team at that point in time.
Speaking about the time when Astralis was going to be sold, Thorin claimed the asking price at the time was in the ballpark of about three to five million dollars for the entire lineup.
Talking about the price of the Nikola "NiKo" Kovač - Marcelo "coldzera" David superteam in 2020, he claimed the price of that lineup to be about four to five million dollars.
An untested Russian player Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov who was stepping into the top-teir competitive CS:GO circuit for the very first time had reportedly cost G2 Esports $600,000 USD to transfer over from NAVI Junior.
If all the figures presented above are considered to be true, it only proves further how lucky Cloud9 got with this transfer taking into consideration all the additional factors that impacted this deal.
Even Thorin goes on to say that "To get this squad for a million dollars that's one of the craziest min-maxes that you'll ever see. It's incredible value for money, one of the best value for money deals ever in CS:GO."
Note: Segment about Cloud9 purchasing Gambit Esports starts around 11 mins and 30 secs.
He further goes on to talk about the other side of the coin, how come this deal only cost Cloud9 a million dollars, circumstances that surrounded this transfer, visa issues that players might face in the future, and highlights more such points to expand on the topic.
