B Site Inc, the company behind the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive competitive series known as Flashpoint, on Wednesday tabbed Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles as commissioner of Flashpoint and vice president of brand of Flashpoint. In addition, B Site has also acquired the Insight on Esports content channels to host new content featuring long-form esports shows with well-known hosts. Financial terms of the contract were not released.
Mykles, who is widely recognized as one of the most influential people in the space, has more than 15 years of esports experience, serving as a broadcaster across five different titles including stints with Riot Games’ League of Legends Champions Korea and the Overwatch League. He’s also served as a professional team owner with both Renegades and Counter Logic Gaming while also having coached and consulted with multiple esports and media businesses.
When asked about his new role, Mykles told The Esports Observer that there really isn’t that much difference in what he was doing before with one exception. “I don’t think that much is fundamentally changing besides me having a position on the board of governors alongside some of the partner team players and employees of the partner teams,” he said.
As commissioner of Flashpoint, he will serve as the official link between Flashpoint and fans. Mykles will serve on Flashpoint’s board of governors alongside Mike Rufail, CEO of Envy Gaming, Tomi Kovanen, SVP of finance and business development at Immortals Gaming Club, Adam “friberg” Friberg from Dignitas, and Epitácio “TACO” de Melo of MIBR.
As vice president of brand, Mykles will be in charge of the overall brand direction for all B Site endeavors including Flashpoint, B Site’s content platform, and future events. He’ll also be developing new content and tournaments as B Site expands to include additional titles.
“I think that there’s a hole right now in terms of people who would like to watch high quality professional Hearthstone on Twitch,” Mykles said. “We’ve seen Valve say that they want third party operators for their new Dota system. And as we’ve seen, Rocket League just announced that they’re more or less getting rid of the RLCS system and that they want to create a new kind of competitive circuit. I’d love to have conversations with Psyonix or Epic to see if that could be an option for us.”
When asked if VALORANT may be on the horizon for B Site, Mykles said he is definitely interested in exploring Riot Games’ new 5v5 character-based shooter.
“I’m excited and hoping that we can run Valorant events,” Mykles said. “I am intrigued by where it is right now. Obviously, the launch of the game in beta was hugely successful. I think that we’re still quite a ways away from really understanding its potential as an esport for a variety of reasons.”
Mykles said that there are a few things the title needs to get a handle on before anybody can truly know if the game can survive as an esport.
“We only have four maps in the game right now,” he said. “There’s no ranked play. The spectator features are super limited as it is. All of these things I anticipate will be solved in the coming months. It’s going to take these issues being solved and continuously running events in order to understand exactly what the level of enthusiasm is to watch these tournaments.”
This year hasn’t been easy for Mykles or the people behind Flashpoint as the COVID-19 pandemic forced Flashpoint to pivot quickly from their original programming and content plan.
“I think the pandemic really hurt us … in particular because our entire concept behind flashpoint was having the players there and having players interacting with us and each other to highlight their personalities,” Mykles said “I think a lot of us were quite nervous that we might just have to cancel it [Flashpoint]. Have to give credit to the team and the producers for really making that work..”
While Mykles’ time will be heavily taxed with his new position and expanded responsibilities, he said he is equally excited about the acquisition of the Insight on Esports content channels. As a part of this move, Summoning Insight, hosted by Mykles and Duncan “Thorin” Shields has a new home at Insight on Esports.
According to Mykles, more show announcements will be coming very soon.
“I think the other part of this is that we want to do studio shows across esports titles with some of the most popular personalities and a variety of games,” said Mykles. “We want to work with people who will bring a creative energy and who are excited about going above and beyond in order to deliver something special. And while many other organizations we’ll expect you simply to stay in your lane and do your job, we really want to hear your ideas and then help you make them a reality.”
So, does this new position at B Site mean that the scene is going to lose Mykles’ hard-hitting content?
“No. I’ve, I’ve already at this job for a couple of weeks and I don’t think I’ve been tamed,” Mycles said. “If anything, it empowers me to be even bolder. Unfortunately for my critics and enemies, I don’t think that it’s really going to dial me back.”
