Just imagine where ESF would stand now without Axiom and Azubu...
Still, I think they can only survive if they unite with Kespa/Pl. A Pl with 14(without Prime and NSHS) would be pretty awesome imo.

Holdenintherye

Canada1441 Posts

January 14 2013 04:20 GMT

#46

This is great to see!
And another big announcement to come?!
Axiom showing how its done! B)

Young Terran

United Kingdom265 Posts

January 14 2013 04:20 GMT

#47

FINALLY SOME GOOD NEWS!

SHOOG

United States1639 Posts

January 14 2013 04:22 GMT

#48

Pretty nice house! Nice size rooms for 2. Happy to see they aren't trying to cram several players in a room like many teams have to do. Glad things seem to be going well with Axiom. I hope they benefit from this house!

Weirdkid

Singapore2431 Posts

January 14 2013 04:24 GMT

#49

On January 14 2013 13:16 EnumaAvalon wrote:
Also big announcement coming? What could it be???

Change of Axiom uniform to include top hats?

VirgilSC2

United States6151 Posts

January 14 2013 04:26 GMT

#50

On January 14 2013 13:16 EnumaAvalon wrote:
Also big announcement coming? What could it be???

Confirmation of their GSTL spot.

LimeNade

United States2125 Posts

January 14 2013 04:28 GMT

#51

Smart to set aside a guest room for foreigners then you can rent it out and make some money to help pay for the overall expenses ^_^

Atrbyg

United States513 Posts

January 14 2013 04:30 GMT

#52

Cool house. Gl to all the Axiom players. Cannot wait for GSTL.

ratty

New Zealand275 Posts

January 14 2013 04:30 GMT

#53

great step forward! loving your work TB! AXIOM becoming my new fav team. keep it up and GL

leova

266 Posts

January 14 2013 04:36 GMT

#54

Thank you for all you do, TB!

you really are a credit, and an asset, to the SC2 and eSports community as a whole - you actually CARE ABOUT THE PLAYERS, you are honest and good-natured, and everything you do reeks of Chivalry and Golden Rule awesomeness

keep on keepin' on, I think Axiom might just be my new favorite team!

-Jacob-

358 Posts

January 14 2013 04:38 GMT

#55

Great job TotalBiscut, his love wife and Husky. Very promising team.

bduddy

United States1326 Posts

January 14 2013 04:43 GMT

#56

On January 14 2013 12:40 TommyP wrote:
All this axiom stuff is amazing news with TSL disbanding and ST losing two of their top players to KeSPA teams.

That's the difference between TB, who actually has some idea how to make money, and some of the eSF teams, which have a "business model" approximating the following:

1. Play SC2
2. ???
3. Profit!

TotalBiscuit

United Kingdom5437 Posts

January 14 2013 05:01 GMT

#57

On January 14 2013 13:43 bduddy wrote:

Show nested quote +

That's the difference between TB, who actually has some idea how to make money, and some of the eSF teams, which have a "business model" approximating the following:

1. Play SC2
2. ???
3. Profit!

ESF business model is for the most part broken. It's not necessarily all their fault, sponsors don't grow on trees and many of these teams do not have a main source of income outside of that. Never gamble with money you can't afford to lose. Right now it seems like there are some teams (and some of those have now disbanded) who did just that, hoping to get sponsors later down the line. You can't build a team on hope alone.

More to the point, you can't build one on sponsors alone. In the words of the wise and powerful Wu Tang Clan

[image loading]

Where can you draw revenue streams from? Well the clue is in the name, streams. Not enough teams actively stream. When they do, not enough actively understand how to put on a show. Learn a little English so you can communicate with your fans in a really basic manner, do something entertaining, organize something out of the ordinary, do customs, do team-games. While you're doing that, consider what kind of media your house can produce without requiring any real monetary investment. Interviews are a given, all you need is a translator and a webcam. Turn the players into personalities, show them outside of merely playing SC2, if you do that then you can produce a wider variety of media which can be monetized by Twitch and/or Youtube because people will want to watch your players and learn more about them. Run in-house events and get someone to cast them. SHOUTcraft House of the Swarm made it's prizemoney back in ad revenue on Twitch ALONE. That's a $1000 tournament that just funded itself and promoted 3 teams and all their sponsors while doing it. You don't even have to provide a prizepool, they are your players, just have em play a few matches out of their schedule to promote the team and make you some ad revenue.

Merchandise the shit out of your team. Make desirable items of clothing available via international retailers, there are plenty out there that can handle all that for you and you just take home your cut at the end of the day. Know what paid for this team-house? A t-shirt. 1 t-shirt. A 2 week run of that t-shirt made enough money to fund the house FOR A YEAR. I'm not just talking rent either, I'm talking utilities too. Obviously, no team actually has the media reach that I do so I have an advantage but fuck, where are the shirts? EG and TL know the score on that. Where is the merch? What about posters with players on them? Let fans have posters on their walls of their favourite players just like real sports. Hats, hoodies, trading cards. If you sign sponsor deals with peripheral manufacturers, work with them to create branded gear for your team which you can then sell to supporters.

This is what teams need to understand and get into the business of doing. In-game success has never been the sole factor in keeping your team afloat.