Evil Geniuses Disbands Dota 2 Roster Amidst Another Wave of Layoffs

The landscape of South American (SA) Dota 2 is going to look different in the upcoming 2024 as Evil Geniuses’ (EG) entire roster has been let go. The team now faces an uncertain future amidst another round of layoffs. All five players of the Dota 2 team have now entered free agency immediately post The International 2023 (TI12), where Evil Geniuses had a disappointing 13th-16th place finish. 

EG’s South America social media manager Guashi stated that she was not “personally sure” if Evil Geniuses will have a Dota 2 roster for 2024 and confirmed that all the members are parting ways with the organization and seeking a new future.

Evil Geniuses’ Dota 2 Journey Ends

Evil Geniuses ended its operations in North America towards the end of 2022 and moved to South America to participate in the SA Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) 2023. It replaced its NA roster with the Thunder Awaken lineup.

In her lengthy statement, EG’s South American social media manager added, “Today many layoffs happened at EG and it's very unlikely that they acquire a new roster.” 

When a Twitter user commented, “Panda and Chris Luck should have been fired,” Guashi replied, “Don't worry, my friend. They all got kicked out.” 

As a result, all five players who signed with Evil Geniuses when it moved its Dota 2 operations to Peru are now looking for new opportunities. EG’s Dota 2 Liquipedia also confirmed that all the players left the organization on 1st November. 

The EG roster that participated in The International 2023 was as follows:

• Crhistian “Pakazs” Savina

• Jean Pierre “Chris Luck” Gonzales Salazar

• Adrián “Wisper” Céspedes Dobles

• Farith “Matthew” Puente (Captain)

• Jose “Panda” Padilla

However, at the time of writing this article, it is unclear as to whether they plan to play together as a team for 2024.

This news of Evil Geniuses letting go of its Dota 2 team comes a day after another round of massive layoffs at the organization.

Evil Geniuses has been subject to a lot of criticism in the last year due to its treatment of its other esports teams including League of Legends, Valorant, and Rocket League.

The organization was criticized on social media in late 2022 after allegations surfaced regarding how its young League of Legends star Kyle "Danny" Sakamaki was treated. 

Likewise, on 11th September, members of the Evil Geniuses Valorant starting roster, who won Valorant Champions 2023, were asked to explore other options or face pay cuts. Currently, the members are stuck in a “contract jail” situation. 

Recently, days after reportedly firing its Rocket League streamer Elyse "Herculyse" Herrera, noting that her series had no sponsors, EG continued the series without the streamer days later.

After a period of ups and downs, on 31st August, Evil Geniuses former CEO Nicole LaPointe Jameson announced that she was stepping down from her position. While Jameson reportedly denied that the Danny controversy had anything to do with her departure from EG, esports fans continue to question the way she chose to run EG during her time at the helm of the organization.