A number of people have lost their jobs as esports organiser ESL announces a restructure. The changes, which so far affect its French and Spanish offices, are effective immediately, with more jobs “at risk.”
ESL has not confirmed how many people have lost their jobs so far. It has, however, said the French and Spanish offices will remain open – just with a reduced headcount. The UK office, meanwhile, is “currently under assessment”, the company states.
It tells our sister site, The Loadout: “ESL has today announced a considered restructuring program of our international entities to ensure a more efficient way of working that meets the needs of the company and its customers, with local entities focusing on the ESL brand and partnerships in their dedicated regions. Spain and France will be affected immediately, whereas the UK office is currently under assessment and roles have been put at risk.
“ESL will be moving resources and capabilities to central offices to meet the company’s need for efficient operations and customer demands of global and scalable products. No local office will be shut down in this process. As always, we support all staff affected by the changes.”
The company was founded in 2000 as Electronic Sports League. It is both the largest esports company and the oldest still going today. In 2015, Swedish media group Modern Times bought a controlling stake in ESL, bringing it under an umbrella that also contains gaming brands such as Kongregate and DreamHack.
Our thoughts go out to all those affected by the layoffs.