Evil Geniuses (EG), one of North America’s longest-running esports organisations, has officially announced that it will stop all competitive and day-to-day operations effective November 2, 2026.
In a statement on X, CEO Chris DeAppolonio said that over the past few years, the organisation had rebuilt how it operates, stabilising its business, improving public perception, and growing its audience and output while expanding into new games and building out its roster of content creators.
Despite that, he said esports continues to face serious financial pressure, including limited sponsorship money and the rising cost of competing at the highest level. He said that even with continued investment and the effort of EG’s staff, the organisation concluded it could not keep operating responsibly under current conditions.
DeAppolonio said EG will wind down in an organised way and is working with every affected player, coach, and staff member. As of the announcement, every player across EG’s rosters is free to discuss opportunities with other organisations. The organisation’s VALORANT players and coaches specifically will be free to sign elsewhere once the 2026 season ends on November 2.
Evil Geniuses’ history and key milestones:
- 1997: Began as a competitive Quake clan in Victoria, British Columbia.
- 1999: Re-founded and established as a multi-game esports organisation.
- 2015: Became the first North American organisation to win Dota 2’s The International, claiming a then-record $6.6 million share of the prize pool.
- 2019: Acquired by Chicago-based private equity firm PEAK6 Investments.
- 2023: Won the Valorant Champions world title.
The announcement comes just days after VALORANT teams received word on their VCT partnership status. VCT partnership is a system through which Riot Games, the developer of VALORANT, provides a set level of financial support to certain esports organisations competing in its top league. Evil Geniuses was not among the organisations selected for VCT partnership this cycle, meaning it would not have received that financial backing going forward.
EG’s comments about financial sustainability echo concerns raised elsewhere in esports. Marco Mereu, founder and CEO of esports organisation Gentle Mates, recently said his organisation spends roughly $500,000 a year to field a VALORANT roster, covering salaries for five players, a head coach, and an assistant coach or analyst, along with travel costs.
He said that to make that investment worthwhile under the current system, a team would need to qualify for every Cup event and at least one Masters tournament just to break even. Missing a single Cup, he said, puts a team six figures in the red, and missing a Masters creates an even bigger shortfall.
He argued that most teams cannot afford to take on that level of financial risk for so little guaranteed return, and that cutting player salaries to reduce costs would only create a race to the bottom, since competing at the top level of VALORANT requires players to be paid full-time wages.
Evil Geniuses is not the only major esports organisation to fully shut down this year. Just a few days earlier, Global Esports, a decade-old Indian esports organisation, also exited the industry, citing an unsustainable business. Other top-tier organisations, including Complexity Gaming and WYLDE, have also shut down this year due to financial pressures.
These closures point to a shift taking place across esports, where organisations that once relied heavily on investor funding and sponsorship deals are now being forced to reassess whether competing at the top level is financially sustainable at all.
