DANISH ESPORTS ORGANISTION NORTH FALLS VICTIM TO COVID AS FUNDING PULLED

Danish esports organisation North is closing after just four years of operation.

Football Club Copenhagen (FCK) has announced the closure of the esports organisation on its website, explaining that investors Parken Sport & Entertainment and Nordisk Film had decided to pull their funding in response to the COVID-19 crisis.  

The move follows the stepping down of CEO Christopher Håkonsson in November of 2020, after just one year with North. He was replaced by interim CEO Alexander Pedersen, who sought additional investment for the organisation, apparently to no avail. 

Chairman of North and Director of Parken Sport & Entertainment, Lars Bo Jeppesen, said that investors were “very sorry to close North”, and that the organisation required “significant continued investment to create a sustainable business in the future.” 

Though Jeppesen acknowledged that there was still potential for the esports and gaming industry, he pointed to an uncertain timeline, and the way that the ongoing pandemic had disrupted core aspects of the industry. 

Despite the closure of North, the group will continue its investment in the FCK football club, which will absorb North’s FIFA operations and enable continued participation in the eSuperliga. However, all other esports operations, including CS:GO and Apex Legends, are set to be terminated in due course. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Despite North securing commercial partnerships with several big brands, including YouGov, MM Vision, Nocco, EPOS, and Capgemini, it seems the organisation still required substantial and continued investment to enable it to scale into anything approaching profitability. And, with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis preventing the return of anything like normality regarding vital revenue-generating in-person esports events, the financial support required was just too much. 

The esports industry, like certain other sectors, is increasingly finding itself in something of a conundrum. On the one hand, the sheer popularity of video gaming and esports is growing at an unprecedented rate, actually helped by the COVID-19 crisis, but on the other, monetisation and profitability are becoming increasingly difficult for many organisations. 

Will more high-profile esports organisations follow North in 2021? Time will tell…

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