Stuart “TosspoT” Saw casts a critical eye over two external blogs posted in the wake of the CGS demise. It is highly suggested you read them first (links below) before reading the rest of this article.

No sooner had the CGS confirmed its demise than the vultures were pecking at the corpse of another American eSports organisation. There are many who saw this coming, many who knew better and many reasons as to why this multimillion dollar organisation collapsed, however of all the arguments the weakest came from two of the people whose achievements I respect the most in eSports.

The two SK leaders TheSlash and bds who can boast one of the biggest success stories in eSports wasted no time pouring salt into the wounds of the ailing giant, however the majority of their points made no sense and reminded me of SK’s eSports Award winner Carmac’s article, Paupers will be Kings. So let me pick apart their arguments in a similar crude fashion to the way they were constructed.

Brands from scratch

bds started by complaining that the CGS ‘tried to reinvent the wheel by creating new brands’. I’m sorry, are 3D & coL which the CGS supposedly paid $250k each for new brands? The CGS knew the importance of involving them, that’s why Jason Lake and Craig Levine were involved from the pilot and had much more to do with the company than just being managers. This was also why a similar offer was made to SK and other brands, SK turned this down of course because to their credit they’ve built a company worth millions. But don’t attack CGS for not doing something when they clearly made every effort to do so.

Wrong Games

This was a point that both TheSlash & bds shared and went on to complain about Source being picked and it costing them the likes of Spawn, Neo & Walle. Well zet, cogu, red and Heaton may not have been enough but if they were only going to run 2 European franchises would 10 all-star European CS 1.6 players have made ANY difference? No, indeed the CGS had many eSports celebrities who put their brands into its mix all of whom meant little to the actual viewers.

TheSlash digs his hole even bigger on this subject. He suggests the game choices should have been CS 1.6, FIFA, Warcraft 3 and potentially World of Warcraft 3on3.  I am simply amazed as to how someone so successful honestly believes Warcraft 3 and WoW would work on primetime American Entertainment TV, because that’s simply rubbish.

More surprised because I can remember how many times he was interviewed by GIGA2, GIGA2 a project that did exactly that in the biggest eSports community in Europe, Germany. If WC3 & CS 1.6 can’t make it on TV in Germany, then why oh why will it be any different on an entertainment channel in America? The CGS dipped their feet into the waters of WoW but they knew that little elves jumping on white lions doesn’t make good TV.

bds ends with

“All in all, if you want to make business in the esport world, you need to do it together with the organizations out there...” I just wonder who is he hinting at here. Because let’s be honest, whilst the CGS tried to be independent they sure as hell took on board the consultancy and advice of North America’s most successful eSporting names, to list but a few; Fatal1ty the guy who brought in allegedly $40million to his brand in 07, Jason Lake & Craig Levine, the most successful team managers in The States and Scott Valencia who was an integral part of the CPL & WSVG. So who did they miss? For a North American business, I can only imagine they missed out MLG but I don’t believe that’s who he was hinting at, do you?

TheSlash saves himself

"The concept of CGS was a very very US driven approach on professional sports.“  He does understand it was AMERICAN, American money, American people and American success would make or break it. Europe was always a minor factor in the project, mainly because of where the money was coming from. European eSports has grown at a great pace throughout the CGS rollercoaster and SK has been at the front of that, but does the success Europe has had mean anything for America? No, nor will it ever bare an influence on the production of American TV.

The CGS made many mistakes and they paid the ultimate price, but they came and they tried something different and they tried to incorporate traditional eSports with their own vision for entertainment within the realm of what makes successful American TV. It couldn’t be done the ESL way as GIGA2 proved, but that doesn’t mean other ways are wrong. To end my rant at SK’s ugly attack on The CGS, let me quote SK’s prized asset back at them;

“Esports is full of businessmen that know business but do not know gaming, and gamers that know gaming but do not know business”