Danish esports organization North shuts down

Danish esports organization North is ceasing operations due to fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. The organization, which had teams in CS:GO, FIFA and Apex Legends, announced the news with a tweet on February 5.

“Today is a sad day,” the tweet read. “North Esports is no more.” Parken Sport & Entertainment, the owner of North Esports and F.C. Copenhagen, wrote that they could not secure additional investors needed to keep North Esports running through the pandemic.

“We have searched the market to get one or more co-investors on board the project, but have unfortunately not found the right match,'” Parken Sport & Entertainment director Lars Bo Jeppesen said in the announcement. “It will require significant continued investment to create a sustainable business in the future and therefore we believe that the sole responsibility for our overall business is to focus all our focus on our core business”

Various players voiced their disappointment with the move, including ones from Astralis and Ninjas in Pyjamas. “Despite the great rivalry we had throughout the years, this is a really sad day for esports and Danish esports in particular,” Astralis head coach Danny Sørensen tweeted in response.

North Esports had hoped to “consolidate a position among the world’s elite organizations and help lead the transformation of esports” last year, according to their website. The pandemic has forced organizers and teams from all over the industry to cancel events, cut back on spending and reevaluate their current business plans. Some, like North, have had to shudder.

North Esports rebranded, resigned some of their CS:GO talent and acquired an Apex Legends team in 2020. Alexander Pedersen, the CMO at North said that the organization “needed to focus on a few critical elements in the very foundation” of their group at the time. It looks like those adjustments didn’t change the overall direction of North Esports.