Sources speaking on background have told The Esports Observer that North American esports organization Ghost Gaming will cease operations in the very near future. When contacted by The Esports Observer, the CEO of Ghost Gaming, Matt Dillon said, “There is a distinct possibility the organization will fold, however, we are looking at other options including a sale.”
Speculation as to why the organization may cease operations has been said to surround the economic effects of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the esports ecosystem and investor markets.
Ghost Gaming was formed in 2017 and has fielded teams in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Call of Duty, Gears of War, Fortnite, Smite, and Rocket League.
Players and staff from Ghost Gaming have been reaching out to other organizations for the past couple of weeks looking for new opportunities and representation. This is due to the fact that many leagues such as the Smite Pro League will not allow players to participate unless they are signed and playing under an organization’s banner.
Yesterday, Ghost’s Fortnite duo of Timothy ‘Bizzle’ Miller and Aydan ‘Aydan’ Conrad announced their departures from the organization on Twitter, but gave no explanation as to why:
Left Ghost Gaming
Read: https://t.co/IMMMaax375
— Bizzle (@Ghost_Bizzle) April 4, 2020
Parting ways with Ghost Gaming.
Read: https://t.co/4odgHI65My
— Aydan (@aydan) April 4, 2020
Conrad, winner of the $100K USD Twitch Rivals Warzone tournament, while playing with members of Call of Duty League’s Atlanta FaZe, has been rumored to be exploring playing both titles.
Additionally, the Smite Pro League announced yesterday that the players from Ghost’s Smite team have left the organization and will now play for Radiance. When reached for comment regarding the team switch, Hi-Rez Studios did not respond.
While Ghost Gaming still owns its Rocket League Championship Series slot, sources tell The Esports Observer that Nick “mist” Costello and Massimo “Atomic” Franceschi are still under contract with Ghost Gaming, but are looking at other opportunities when that contract runs out.
Editor’s note: An earlier iteration of this story stated that “many leagues” do not “allow players to participate unless they are signed and playing under an organization’s banner,” and included the Rocket League Championship Series in that equation. The statement was not accurate concerning the RLCS and has been corrected to reflect this.
