Cloud9 CEO Jack Etienne has admitted the organization is “controlling costs” after fans questioned the Valorant roster rebuild.
Cloud9 pulled out of numerous esports titles at the end of 2022, notably releasing their Halo, Apex Legends, and Valorant Game Changers teams.
Along with rebuilding the Valorant roster ahead of the VCT partnership league — letting go of stars such as in-game leader Anthony ‘vanity’ Malaspina as well as Jaccob ‘yay’ Whiteaker — has prompted concerns from fans that the organization is running out of cash.
While acknowledging the Valorant recent departures, in a March 12 Reddit post, a Cloud9 fan asked for the origin behind rumors that the organization is “broke.”
Others explained the rumors are due to Cloud9’s recent departure from esports titles and the organization’s lack of sponsors. “It started from the fact that back in the end of 2022 C9 let go a lot of its other esports team,” one fan wrote.
They added: “In the most recent months C9 on their company page and even on their jerseys have removed/not resigned with a lot of sponsors.”
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The thread prompted a response from Cloud9’s CEO Jack Etienne, who admitted they’re “controlling costs” and planning for the long term.
“We’re in a great place financially and I aim to keep it that way by controlling costs in a time when sponsorships are tight,” he wrote. “I’m planning for the long term.”
Cloud9 isn’t the only organization that’s seen major changes over the last few months. Thus far, 2023 is looking to be a rough year for the industry.
In January, 100 Thieves laid off approximately a sixth of its employees according to The Jacob Wolf Report — as well as several content creators parting ways with the org. More recently, The Guard laid off all of their content, social, talent, and creative teams.
