EG and Alliance now player-owned organizations

EG and Alliance are now player-owned organizations. The two teams have parted way with parent company GoodGame Agency, owned by Twitch TV. With this separation, the players will now be owners and in control of the future operations of the teams, going forward much like Team Secret, OG, Team NP, and Team Faceless.

Both Alliance and Evil Geniuses have become player-owned, independent organizations after parting ways with parent company GoodGame Agency.

In 2014, GoodGame Agency was purchased by Twitch and many concerns about conflict of interest with the two teams getting preferential treatment and priority by the streaming company surfaced at the time.

According to the statement released by Joakim “Akke” Akterhall and Jonathan “Loda” Berg are now the co-owners of Alliance, with former manager Erik Barge taking on the COO role.

Following TI6, Akke had withdrawn from the team but remained with the organization in a business role.

It’s been a long road since I returned to Europe to create (together with Akke and the rest) what would start out as No Tidehunter and later become Alliance. Working together with Alex Garfield and GoodGame we were able to create a team and brand that we could be proud to represent. When, down the road, GoodGame was acquired by Twitch our future looked even brighter. I’m very pleased to see Twitch share our vision and helping us by giving us the tools to expand and evolve as an organisation. With this divestment they have given majority control to us players from the old squad and a few others. With ongoing support and partnership with Twitch we are well equipped for the future. Our dream has always been to expand into more games to be able to support players doing what they do best, which has now started with Hearthstone and will continue with other divisions.

– Jonathan “Loda” Berg, Co-owner and Dota 2 team captain of Alliance

Evil Geniuses have reported that none other than Peter “PPD” Dager will be the CEO of the organization.

Almost at the end of the Fall 2016 Major registration period, longtime captain PPD had transitioned out of the team into a business management position with the brand.

I’m happy to finally announce EG as its own independently operating esports brand. Five years ago I could not imagine my life being where it is at today, but here I am. I want to thank everyone from Twitch and those here at EG for believing in me as the leader to continue to build this company.

– Peter “PPD” Dager, CEO of Evil Geniuses

While the changes will appear minor to the fans and those outside the agency, since operations will continue as usual, the future implications for the players, teams and brands are expected to be tremendous.

Evil Geniuses

Evil Geniuses at the Summit 6

Following TI6, Andreas Franck “Cr1t-” Nielsen stepped into the rather large shoes left open with PPD’s departure.

For the third time, Artour “Arteezy” Babaev dons the blue jersey for the organization. The famed Canadian player has had an on-and-off relationship with both Team Secret and Evil Geniuses since 2014.

Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora, Syed Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan and Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg have remained with the team.

Evil Geniuses were close to getting their names written on the Aegis of Champions for the second time. Not close enough, though: they fell to Digital Chaos in the Lower Bracket Finals and placed third overall.

They have since taken first place at MDL 2016 – a strong start to the new season, followed up by 4th at Northern Arena BEAT Invitational, 3rd at the Summit 6 and 2nd in Elimination Mode 2.0.

The team most recently took 3rd-4th place at the Boston Major.

Alliance

Alliance DreamLeague Season 6

At the end of August, Alliance officially announced the departure of Gustav “s4” Magnusson, Henrik “AdmiralBulldog” Ahnberg and Joakim “Akke” Akterhall.

s4 joined the new OG roster, while AdmiralBulldog had disclosed via ask.fm that he might take a break until after the Boston Major.

Joakim “Akke” Akterhall and Henrik “AdmiralBulldog” Ahnberg will be remaining with the organization in other capacities. Akke has joined the “Alliance talent”, as the organization will be expanding into Hearthstone and Super Smash Bros Melee.

The Alliance new roster remained entirely Swedish, as Jonathan “Loda” Berg and Jerry “EGM” Lundkvist picked up Simon “Handsken” Haag, Jonas “jonassomfan” Lindholm and Linus “Limmp” Blomdin.

Alliance failed to qualify for the Boston Major, unable to advance out of the group stage following a 3:6 record. The team took 5th-6th place at the Northern Arena BEAT Invitational and 3rd place in DreamLeague Season 6.