WME | IMG has acquired Global Esports Management (GEM), the agency currently representing the likes of Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykkles, Choi "Bomber" Ji Sung, OnGameNet, and Cong "StrifeCro" Shu, as well as many other big names in esports. WME | IMG will incorporate GEM's expertise in the field of esports to provide management services to players, personalities, and organizations, according to the company's press release.
WME I IMG represents some big musicians like Lady Gaga, Deadmau5 and actors from Hugh Jackman and Seth McFarlane. It's an interesting step for such a mainstream and large scale organization to pick up on e-sports.
Wow, that's huge. Let's hope this is a good thing for SC2. A big company like that might only be interested in the more popular games and not wanna bother with the smaller ones.
Maybe they will bother updating Leenock's page now >_< I have tweeted all of them and still so much wrong information about Leenock. It's like 1 paragraph of text how can you manage to fuck up three times.. I even did a paint picture clearly showing where the mistakes are
On January 22 2015 02:40 PhoenixVoid wrote: Whooooooops, apologies I put "Hugh Jackson" instead of "Hugh Jackman". I apologize to everyone who was mislead by my poor journalistic abilities.
Hmmmm... Dunno what to say, when someone decides that they gona invest a shit ton of money into esporte, that doesnt usually turn out to be a good idea
What is GEM even fucking doing? Like how exactly are they helping leenock in anyway for example. I always thought it was a useless stupid organisation. If MC has to fucking tweet to advertise himself to teams, GEM is not doing a great job. I have no idea how a real agency like WME could pick them up, they probably just have no idea about esports, but want to hop on the train.
On January 22 2015 03:24 Musicus wrote: What is GEM even fucking doing? Like how exactly are they helping leenock in anyway for example. I always thought it was a useless stupid organisation. If MC has to fucking tweet to advertise himself to teams, GEM is not doing a great job. I have no idea how a real agency like WME could pick them up, they probably just have no idea about esports, but want to hop on the train.
AFAIK GEM was supposed the help Leenock etc with travelling. Like they had a house in germany the players could stay in during events like HSC. Also if the players they helped had trouble finding hotels/travelling stuff they would also help with that. Since not all team managers are good at english it is sometimes hard to understand and find where they need to go.
That's what they were supposed to do at least. But I don't know how much they did because Leenock reached out personally to me twice to get help travelling to Dreamhack events. And he also probably reached out to other people for other events, that wouldn't surprise me at all. I.E. it's highly likely that Leenock talked to Kane instead of GEM to get help to travel to IEM Toronto last year.
Lastly, the players who were sponsored by GEM was forced to stream on Azubu for 30hours every month until October last year. (After that, Azubu seemed to not think it was worth sponsoring sc2 and switched to KeSPA LoL teams instead). Since all of them did it, they must had recieved something from GEM, otherwise they would just drop out, right? So they did get something I just don't know what and how much sorry.I don't feel like asking Leenock because I don't care about how he makes, nor do I want to know because I think that's his own personal business.
Seems like a.... suprise I guess. For real though Dario, aren't they doing anything for the esports scene? I gotta say that i never heard of them before really, but they can't do nothing and get bought by this huge company... right? ... rriiiieght? anyone? hello?
On January 22 2015 03:43 forsakeNXE wrote: Seems like a.... suprise I guess. For real though Dario, aren't they doing anything for the esports scene? I gotta say that i never heard of them before really, but they can't do nothing and get bought by this huge company... right? ... rriiiieght? anyone? hello?
On January 22 2015 03:43 forsakeNXE wrote: Seems like a.... suprise I guess. For real though Dario, aren't they doing anything for the esports scene? I gotta say that i never heard of them before really, but they can't do nothing and get bought by this huge company... right? ... rriiiieght? anyone? hello?
There are a lot of people in esport who are saying that GEM is funded by Sapinda, the company behind AZUBU, ESGN, it smells fishy, people told me that it was basically money laundering.
On January 22 2015 03:24 Musicus wrote: What is GEM even fucking doing? Like how exactly are they helping leenock in anyway for example. I always thought it was a useless stupid organisation. If MC has to fucking tweet to advertise himself to teams, GEM is not doing a great job. I have no idea how a real agency like WME could pick them up, they probably just have no idea about esports, but want to hop on the train.
Can't you read?
They manage esports, globally!
Ah damn, I'm so stupid... thanks for enlightening me!
On January 22 2015 03:43 forsakeNXE wrote: Seems like a.... suprise I guess. For real though Dario, aren't they doing anything for the esports scene? I gotta say that i never heard of them before really, but they can't do nothing and get bought by this huge company... right? ... rriiiieght? anyone? hello?
There are a lot of people in esport who are saying that GEM is funded by Sapinda, the company behind AZUBU, ESGN, it smells fishy, people told me that it was basically money laundering.
I'm fine with money laundering as long as Azubu is a better streaming platform than Twitch
On January 22 2015 03:43 forsakeNXE wrote: Seems like a.... suprise I guess. For real though Dario, aren't they doing anything for the esports scene? I gotta say that i never heard of them before really, but they can't do nothing and get bought by this huge company... right? ... rriiiieght? anyone? hello?
There are a lot of people in esport who are saying that GEM is funded by Sapinda, the company behind AZUBU, ESGN, it smells fishy, people told me that it was basically money laundering.
I'm fine with money laundering as long as Azubu is a better streaming platform than Twitch
-Got Super and Keen onto Invasion -Got Yoda and First onto TCM -Got every one of their clients streaming deals with Azubu TV. -Ran a team house in Europe for a full year before the WCS changes. -Provided service enough to Ragnarok that he no longer wants a team.
I don't know the logistics or internal organization of GEM, but they'be kinda been amazing as a management organization. People can say what they want about these "dirty laundered money" rumors (which, I just wanna remind you, are still only rumors) but GEM has done what it"says set out to do, and is now part of a larger reputable agency.
On January 22 2015 04:45 Circumstance wrote: -Got Super and Keen onto Invasion -Got Yoda and First onto TCM -Got every one of their clients streaming deals with Azubu TV. -Ran a team house in Europe for a full year before the WCS changes. -Provided service enough to Ragnarok that he no longer wants a team.
I don't know the logistics or internal organization of GEM, but they'be kinda been amazing as a management organization. People can say what they want about these "dirty laundered money" rumors (which, I just wanna remind you, are still only rumors) but GEM has done what it"says set out to do, and is now part of a larger reputable agency.
Streaming on Azubu isn't an accomplishment since GEM and Azubu are sister companies run by the same people.
I don't know about the logistics of the GEM house, but that is something pretty substantial.
The rest don't really impress me to be honest, especially since Invasion and TCM are kind of second (or third even) tier teams (no offense to anyone associated with them).
On January 22 2015 03:24 Musicus wrote: What is GEM even fucking doing? Like how exactly are they helping leenock in anyway for example. I always thought it was a useless stupid organisation. If MC has to fucking tweet to advertise himself to teams, GEM is not doing a great job. I have no idea how a real agency like WME could pick them up, they probably just have no idea about esports, but want to hop on the train.
I dunno why people are being salty about this, this should be exciting news for all. They see $$ coming in and out and decided to make a move. Saying GEM doesn't do shit, sounds a little immature.
On January 22 2015 05:35 Boucot wrote: Why would a big agency like WME-IMG acquire GEM if they really do nothing ? They must have some guarantees no ?
What I don't get is why this is hard to understand... A talent agency is acquiring a talent agency to expand their influence and support a broader range of clients.
Would you rather they pick up TL and then change TL to become a talent agency instead of a team? It's pretty common sense that GEM would be the organization that they pick up while trying to invest in eSports.
There is no reason to talk about how good of a job people do or how shady an organization does, because nobody here knows the legitimacy nor the inner workings of private companies. You don't know, I don't know, so let's just go off of what we know here...
I think people are also missing the other people involved with GEM - Scarlett, Wolf, Chobra, Montechristo, Richard Lewis (at least from the cached page - the actual gem.gg website now goes directly to WME).
I think, vaguely, that at one point Artosis and Tasteless were affiliated with them. Oh yes, they were until last September. Then there's Min-sik. It's possible that WME-IMG sees this as an opportunity to broaden their possibilities abroad, specifically in Asia. If nothing else, this should be good for people that are with GEM, as they gain a much more experienced and bigger company that might be able to offer them more opportunities than GEM was able to do so because of the very network heavy entertainment industry. (Or so it might seem.)
What I find more interesting is that someone like Variety is covering this as well. Which ties into maybe The Entertainment Gods finally noticing that hey, people watch a lot of people play games. It's a market where there's some crossover (things like Nathan Fillion streaming gameplay with developers) already but there could be a lot more opportunities in both directions.
Does GEM deserve to be the ones getting snapped up? I don't know. But I think it should be good for all of GEM's clients.
GEM does nothing? Maybe you should ask their clients. The ran a teamhouse till blizzard send all koreans back to korea with MC, Hyun, First, Yoda and 5th slot for someone visting them. Bomber for example stayed there for 10 days during HSC IX and the upcoming Dr(e)amhack. GEM is a Agency, they bring contracts to the players and the players to the contractors. Even Tastetosis is managed by em. They must do alot or so many people wouldnt stay under their contracts and get managed by them.
TLO maybe mad that he never got contracted by GEM and then GEM brought these Koreans to Europe who won bunch of WCS Money and Europeen Qualifiers for IEM and co.
Oh and yeah, they had/have a non SC II teamhouse in Miami
On January 22 2015 08:26 Clonester wrote: They must do alot or so many people wouldnt stay under their contracts and get managed by them.
Maybe their services cost so little that it's worth it or simply retaining their management in name doesn't cost anything. Or they're better than nothing. MC's recent tweets about searching for a team do not seem like the best way to go about finding a team. Whether those tweets were made under GEM's advisement or despite it, it's their responsibility. Personally I haven't observed GEM opening new doors for their clients. Maybe they have. But it seems like they accomplished nothing more than what any veteran of the scene with a mind for filling that role could do (with some funding). Hopes were higher than that.
I think the hope now is that GEM is nothing more than a client list and a few consultants on the workings of the sports scene while actual agents and managers can get some work done that'll elevate the community.
On January 22 2015 05:35 Boucot wrote: Why would a big agency like WME-IMG acquire GEM if they really do nothing ? They must have some guarantees no ?
What I don't get is why this is hard to understand... A talent agency is acquiring a talent agency to expand their influence and support a broader range of clients.
Would you rather they pick up TL and then change TL to become a talent agency instead of a team? It's pretty common sense that GEM would be the organization that they pick up while trying to invest in eSports.
There is no reason to talk about how good of a job people do or how shady an organization does, because nobody here knows the legitimacy nor the inner workings of private companies. You don't know, I don't know, so let's just go off of what we know here...
Definitely, presumably IMG wanted into the scene and who else is there to buy?
Now, I'm very curious what this is going to do for starcraft teams now that an actual large, powerful company is representing players. Something tells me Quantic wouldn't have gotten away with stealing Hyun's money if he was represented by IMG.
On January 22 2015 08:26 Clonester wrote:TLO maybe mad that he never got contracted by GEM and then GEM brought these Koreans to Europe who won bunch of WCS Money and Europeen Qualifiers for IEM and co.
You're being rather silly. Due to GEM's believed connections with ESGN, everyone who appeared on an ESGN program, Dario included, has every right to be skeptical of GEM, since ESGN went bankrupt without paying any of their competitors.
Man the GEM guy just made serious bank. Gratz to him but E-sports gonna look terrible once they realize its black hole for money. Wonder if MC will go back to GEM..
On January 22 2015 03:43 forsakeNXE wrote: Seems like a.... suprise I guess. For real though Dario, aren't they doing anything for the esports scene? I gotta say that i never heard of them before really, but they can't do nothing and get bought by this huge company... right? ... rriiiieght? anyone? hello?
On January 22 2015 04:45 Circumstance wrote: -Got Super and Keen onto Invasion -Got Yoda and First onto TCM -Got every one of their clients streaming deals with Azubu TV. -Ran a team house in Europe for a full year before the WCS changes. -Provided service enough to Ragnarok that he no longer wants a team.
I don't know the logistics or internal organization of GEM, but they'be kinda been amazing as a management organization. People can say what they want about these "dirty laundered money" rumors (which, I just wanna remind you, are still only rumors) but GEM has done what it"says set out to do, and is now part of a larger reputable agency.
My friend, you forgot one very very important detail:
They put TTeSports in debt and Richard Lewis can't talk about it because GEM is his employer.
I live painfully close to the TTeSports office here in Taipei, Taiwan. I could walk there in ten minutes and take a picture out in front of it. This post is not meant to troll by any means what so ever.
On January 22 2015 03:43 forsakeNXE wrote: Seems like a.... suprise I guess. For real though Dario, aren't they doing anything for the esports scene? I gotta say that i never heard of them before really, but they can't do nothing and get bought by this huge company... right? ... rriiiieght? anyone? hello?
On January 22 2015 04:45 Circumstance wrote: -Got Super and Keen onto Invasion -Got Yoda and First onto TCM -Got every one of their clients streaming deals with Azubu TV. -Ran a team house in Europe for a full year before the WCS changes. -Provided service enough to Ragnarok that he no longer wants a team.
I don't know the logistics or internal organization of GEM, but they'be kinda been amazing as a management organization. People can say what they want about these "dirty laundered money" rumors (which, I just wanna remind you, are still only rumors) but GEM has done what it"says set out to do, and is now part of a larger reputable agency.
My friend, you forgot one very very important detail:
They put TTeSports in debt and Richard Lewis can't talk about it because GEM is his employer.
I live painfully close to the TTeSports office here in Taipei, Taiwan. I could walk there in ten minutes and take a picture out in front of it. This post is not meant to troll by any means what so ever.
On January 22 2015 04:45 Circumstance wrote: -Got Super and Keen onto Invasion -Got Yoda and First onto TCM -Got every one of their clients streaming deals with Azubu TV. -Ran a team house in Europe for a full year before the WCS changes. -Provided service enough to Ragnarok that he no longer wants a team.
I don't know the logistics or internal organization of GEM, but they'be kinda been amazing as a management organization. People can say what they want about these "dirty laundered money" rumors (which, I just wanna remind you, are still only rumors) but GEM has done what it"says set out to do, and is now part of a larger reputable agency.
My friend, you forgot one very very important detail:
They put TTeSports in debt and Richard Lewis can't talk about it because GEM is his employer.
I live painfully close to the TTeSports office here in Taipei, Taiwan. I could walk there in ten minutes and take a picture out in front of it. This post is not meant to troll by any means what so ever.
What a twist! Any more details?!
Nope. Just a few observations that anyone could make.
On January 22 2015 03:43 forsakeNXE wrote: Seems like a.... suprise I guess. For real though Dario, aren't they doing anything for the esports scene? I gotta say that i never heard of them before really, but they can't do nothing and get bought by this huge company... right? ... rriiiieght? anyone? hello?
There are a lot of people in esport who are saying that GEM is funded by Sapinda, the company behind AZUBU, ESGN, it smells fishy, people told me that it was basically money laundering.
GEM Korea, NA and EU actually were completely separate entities. KR was funded by Sapinda while NA and EU made strides to get away from that. Just wanted to clarify for anyone interested.
Also, in regards to TTeSports, maybe they shouldn't have promised more than they can give. An agreement between a sponsor and talent is a two way street.
I remember when Tumba was on the "B stream" at some MLG events. Apparently he is a much better businessman than he was a caster.
As long as GEM is not actively screwing people the comparisons to Azubu are a bit ridiculous. GEM has been around under various names for a few years now. If they weren't at least partially legit we would have heard about it.
On January 27 2015 14:37 Bigtony wrote: I remember when Tumba was on the "B stream" at some MLG events. Apparently he is a much better businessman than he was a caster.
As long as GEM is not actively screwing people the comparisons to Azubu are a bit ridiculous. GEM has been around under various names for a few years now. If they weren't at least partially legit we would have heard about it.
On January 22 2015 04:45 Circumstance wrote: -Got Super and Keen onto Invasion -Got Yoda and First onto TCM -Got every one of their clients streaming deals with Azubu TV. -Ran a team house in Europe for a full year before the WCS changes. -Provided service enough to Ragnarok that he no longer wants a team.
I don't know the logistics or internal organization of GEM, but they'be kinda been amazing as a management organization. People can say what they want about these "dirty laundered money" rumors (which, I just wanna remind you, are still only rumors) but GEM has done what it"says set out to do, and is now part of a larger reputable agency.
My friend, you forgot one very very important detail:
They put TTeSports in debt and Richard Lewis can't talk about it because GEM is his employer.
I live painfully close to the TTeSports office here in Taipei, Taiwan. I could walk there in ten minutes and take a picture out in front of it. This post is not meant to troll by any means what so ever.
What a twist! Any more details?!
Nope. Just a few observations that anyone could make.
I watch Azubu to lower Twitch's numbers in hope of making them adopt better servers in EU. With a ~100KB/s connection I can watch Azubu on 360p with slight lag every minute or so, while I lag every twenty seconds or so on Low on Twitch. Why?
On January 28 2015 23:03 lichter wrote: i watch azubu whenever it's an option because twitch sucks balls for me
Yeah. I also watch ProLeague and StarLeague on Azubu. Because often I have to watch it at work/university (when I have the time ) and the Internet becomes slow there for time to time, to many students online. 360p not only looks way better on Azubu, but it lags less for me in these times.
Yeah it was a screw for alot of player to be forced to stream on Azubu because nobody watches there (SPL 10k on Twitch, 600 on Azubu) but I like the Azubustreams alot more. Less lag and a bit more quality. Twitch servers in EU have alot of problems during high viewer times and you cant watch on source or even high during these times sometime. On Azubu no prob. But hey, for that, nobody watches there and players who forced to stream there via contracts could find any viewers.
On January 22 2015 04:45 Circumstance wrote: -Got Super and Keen onto Invasion -Got Yoda and First onto TCM -Got every one of their clients streaming deals with Azubu TV. -Ran a team house in Europe for a full year before the WCS changes. -Provided service enough to Ragnarok that he no longer wants a team.
I don't know the logistics or internal organization of GEM, but they'be kinda been amazing as a management organization. People can say what they want about these "dirty laundered money" rumors (which, I just wanna remind you, are still only rumors) but GEM has done what it"says set out to do, and is now part of a larger reputable agency.
My friend, you forgot one very very important detail:
They put TTeSports in debt and Richard Lewis can't talk about it because GEM is his employer.
I live painfully close to the TTeSports office here in Taipei, Taiwan. I could walk there in ten minutes and take a picture out in front of it. This post is not meant to troll by any means what so ever.
What a twist! Any more details?!
Nope. Just a few observations that anyone could make.
On January 22 2015 04:45 Circumstance wrote: -Got Super and Keen onto Invasion -Got Yoda and First onto TCM -Got every one of their clients streaming deals with Azubu TV. -Ran a team house in Europe for a full year before the WCS changes. -Provided service enough to Ragnarok that he no longer wants a team.
I don't know the logistics or internal organization of GEM, but they'be kinda been amazing as a management organization. People can say what they want about these "dirty laundered money" rumors (which, I just wanna remind you, are still only rumors) but GEM has done what it"says set out to do, and is now part of a larger reputable agency.
My friend, you forgot one very very important detail:
They put TTeSports in debt and Richard Lewis can't talk about it because GEM is his employer.
I live painfully close to the TTeSports office here in Taipei, Taiwan. I could walk there in ten minutes and take a picture out in front of it. This post is not meant to troll by any means what so ever.
What a twist! Any more details?!
Nope. Just a few observations that anyone could make.
This sentence is poorly worded, can you clarify what exactly you are saying.
Also you stated that Idra and Tasteosis feel strongly about this is there any evidence of them believing that?
I think the whole TTeSports thing involving Tasteosis, IdrA, and PRIME team had something to do with GEM. I'll leave it at that.
I've done enough finger-pointing without solid evidence.
So we have gone from they put TTesports in debt to Idra, Tasteosis and I strongly feel to I think. From a definitive statement that GEM caused TTesports into debt to I think maybe they did something but I don't have any evidence for it. That's one hell of a backpedal, obiviously you are close to this situation and feel strongly about it but perhaps next time you should not make such claims if you cannot back them up, and if you are going to backpedal at least have the guts to admit fault and apologise instead of passing the buck with your non-apology.
On January 22 2015 04:45 Circumstance wrote: -Got Super and Keen onto Invasion -Got Yoda and First onto TCM -Got every one of their clients streaming deals with Azubu TV. -Ran a team house in Europe for a full year before the WCS changes. -Provided service enough to Ragnarok that he no longer wants a team.
I don't know the logistics or internal organization of GEM, but they'be kinda been amazing as a management organization. People can say what they want about these "dirty laundered money" rumors (which, I just wanna remind you, are still only rumors) but GEM has done what it"says set out to do, and is now part of a larger reputable agency.
My friend, you forgot one very very important detail:
They put TTeSports in debt and Richard Lewis can't talk about it because GEM is his employer.
I live painfully close to the TTeSports office here in Taipei, Taiwan. I could walk there in ten minutes and take a picture out in front of it. This post is not meant to troll by any means what so ever.
What a twist! Any more details?!
Nope. Just a few observations that anyone could make.
EPT
![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bwq9vc5IQAE5TU-.png)
![[image loading]](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/b6/91/68/b69168771ca80a952502e2c2c2e17c52.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.srb-motorsport.de/images/Artikel/Toro_Rosso/SRB_ToroRosso_Tests_Jerez_Tag03_2014_0012.jpg)
