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Titan, one of the most well-known new multi-discipline eSports franchises of the last two years has shuttered its doors.
The team, which began with a Malaysian Dota team who placed in the top 10 at Valve’s The International in 2013, expanded to cover Quake, CS:GO and most recently, Smite.
However, with only hours until the beginning of the 2016 CS:GO season, and their team already at StarSeries in Belarus, Titan’s Founder and CEO Damien Grust announced the immediate ceasing of operations, citing financial difficulties.
The money problems apparently began in early 2015 as Valve issued a wave of bans to players who had been detected using unauthorised cheats in CS:GO, catching one of Titan’s best players Hovik "KQLY" Tovmassian in the net.
"This sent shivers down my spine, because it couldn’t have come at a worse moment," Grust said in the statement issued to Titan’s website. "All the bad press that this brought and the major hit the image of an otherwise respectable brand took, was too much.
"Sponsors and partners with whom we were about to sign, understandably backed out of deals, not wanting to be associated with a company that had just been tarnished. Needless to say, our budget for 2015 had gone up in smoke from one day to another."
Grust set about attempting to keep the team afloat for 2015 with more of his own investment, hoping sponsors would come round after time, and a string of high-placing performances, healed their image.
However the remaining members of the CS:GO team all went on to other teams, who have seen great success, while the Smite team they picked up after a second place finish at Worlds 2015 failed to qualify for this year’s championships.
The Smite team announced their disbandment less than 24 hours before Grust dissolved the franchise, and all other staff and players have now been released ‘into this beautiful eSports wilderness’.
