ESL is laying off at least 20 staff worldwide. UK jobs are believed to be safe

ESL has notified several staff that they’ll be made redundant, multiple sources have told Esports Pro.

Reaching out to ESL for confirmation, the company responded with this comment, presented in full:

"ESL is realigning resources and expanding its organization to drive innovation in the esports market, including creating opportunities in original programming, strengthening our in-game capabilities, and expanding our brand globally. As part of that process, some people will be leaving the company. This only reflects an adjustment of our internal organisation and is a step towards preparing ESL for the future ahead, and will not affect the quality of productions such as ESL One Cologne."

At least 20 people have been given notice of termination by the Cologne-based company, although several sources have suggested it could be as much as double that. However, most of the employees will continue to work with the company until the end of September.

The redundancies come a week before ESL Cologne, which is one of the biggest for ESL, after which the company’s schedule becomes much quieter for a couple of months, with the IEM in Shanghai at the end of the month being the last event on their calender until ESL One New York in September. ESL also have an arena at Gamescom.

As ever, our thoughts go out to everyone affected by the layoffs at ESL and it’s believed the ESL UK’s jobs are safe, although it’s not clear how far reaching the restructuring will go. 

Thanks to Slingshot Esports for first catching wind of this, allowing us to reach out to sources.