"As many of our long standing readers will know, we have been investigating the collapse of NASL for some time, interviewing all involved and wondering exactly how it happened. Over the course of compiling information for this piece we obtained a letter from the insolvency company NASL used after declaring bankruptcy and it shows that things had gotten worse than perhaps anyone could have anticipated."

Zealously

East Gorteau22261 Posts

May 22 2014 21:03 GMT

Somewhat disappointing, but hardly surprising. You don't close up shop that quickly unless there's a serious reason behind it, and a debt like this fits well into what we already knew about the NASL and its closure.

Xiphos

Canada7507 Posts

May 22 2014 21:05 GMT

Its still kind of sad to see startup professional gaming business that delivered high quality products to go under. It shows that this progamming business is still in its infancy and still very volatile.

How were NASL's viewership?

Kleinmuuhg

Vanuatu4091 Posts

May 22 2014 21:06 GMT

unfortunately with so many people trying and investing there we bound to be some that wouldnt make it financially successfull

ragz_gt

9172 Posts

May 22 2014 21:06 GMT

1.6mil sounds like.... a really small number for NASL TBH.

Sawofhackness

Afghanistan183 Posts

May 22 2014 21:08 GMT

All respect to ventures and companies that take risks with E-sports, but it's a cruel mistress

myxoma_strain

United Kingdom371 Posts

May 22 2014 21:08 GMT

the letter implies that not all prize money was paid out. Do we know if anyone hasn't been paid? Also, I was under the assumption it was blizzard that provided the prize money. Would that complicate the payout process?

myxoma_strain

United Kingdom371 Posts

May 22 2014 21:10 GMT

Also, a plain text copy would be appreciated for reference

Xiphos

Canada7507 Posts

May 22 2014 21:10 GMT

On May 23 2014 06:08 myxoma_strain wrote:
the letter implies that not all prize money was paid out. Do we know if anyone hasn't been paid? Also, I was under the assumption it was blizzard that provided the prize money. Would that complicate the payout process?

The cynic in me thinks that NASL might have spent those money in their production rather than paying out the players to keep their sponsors on the hook.

If that were the case, then that's a whole another can of worms.

On May 23 2014 06:10 myxoma_strain wrote:
Also, a plain text copy would be appreciated for reference

Come on now, show Richard Lewis some love

Plansix

United States60190 Posts

May 22 2014 21:12 GMT

#10

This was going to happen to someone on a long enough time line, I am just sad it happened to NASL. Still that's a lot of people not getting paid.

As for players and prize money, it depends on who was paying it out. If they were owed money for WCS, I think blizzard would pick up the tab after the dust settles. For other events, the players may have to get in line.

Ctone23

United States1841 Posts

May 22 2014 21:12 GMT

#11

That's sad.. and no small amount of money either. Possible prize winnings unpaid, just what we need..

myxoma_strain

United Kingdom371 Posts

May 22 2014 21:13 GMT

#12

On May 23 2014 06:10 Xiphos wrote:

Show nested quote +

Come on now, show Richard Lewis some love

All credit to him, I just want to be able to provide the quote when someone who hasn't read it inevitably calls me out

myxoma_strain

United Kingdom371 Posts

May 22 2014 21:14 GMT

#13

It has come to the Assignee’s attention that there are potential consumer claims for unpaid prize obligations which may qualify for priority claim status.

page 2, in the middle of the big paragraph

Plansix

United States60190 Posts

May 22 2014 21:28 GMT

#14

On May 23 2014 06:14 myxoma_strain wrote:
It has come to the Assignee’s attention that there are potential consumer claims for unpaid prize obligations which may qualify for priority claim status.

page 2, in the middle of the big paragraph

That doesn't necessarily mean it's a lot or any at all. It could be zero, but the attorney filing is not 100% sure, so he is leaving it out there for potential claims.

LongShot27

United States2084 Posts

May 22 2014 21:39 GMT

#15

On May 23 2014 06:08 Sawofhackness wrote:
All respect to ventures and companies that take risks with E-sports, but it's a cruel mistress

I agree, I figured they would have been multimillions of dollars in debt

LongShot27

United States2084 Posts

May 22 2014 21:40 GMT

#16

On May 23 2014 06:12 Plansix wrote:
This was going to happen to someone on a long enough time line, I am just sad it happened to NASL. Still that's a lot of people not getting paid.

As for players and prize money, it depends on who was paying it out. If they were owed money for WCS, I think blizzard would pick up the tab after the dust settles. For other events, the players may have to get in line.

I think premier and challenger league are funded by Blizzard anyway, so with that I think theyre ok

qotsager

Germany585 Posts

May 22 2014 21:40 GMT

#17

i was wondering how they managed to entertain a team this big with viewernumbers being this low.

radscorpion9

Canada2252 Posts

May 22 2014 21:41 GMT

#18

That sounds like a lot of money to me, but its difficult to understand what the scale is relative to the size of the company. Is this a big deal considering the number of viewers they had and the revenue they were making? Because this sounds like an enormous amount of debt to me...I'm surprised things managed to get so bad! I wonder what happens to all that...is it just an 'oops' I guess you creditors lost your money type of deal?

Boonbag

France3318 Posts

May 22 2014 21:43 GMT

#19

crazy foreign leagues & esports millions

nkr

Sweden5451 Posts

May 22 2014 21:47 GMT

#20

it's all in that big truck!

Also it's easy for everyone to be all hindsighthero, but the fact is when nasl was announced in the end of 2010 or early 2011, an investment like this didn't make people go "what are they doing?". People thought sc2 was the next big thing, but it ended up being LoL and Dota2 instead. Shit happens.