Evil Geniuses has started winding down its operations ahead of an official closure on November 2, CEO Chris DeAppolonio has announced. He said esports continues to face serious difficulties, including limited sponsorship and the rising cost of competing at the highest level.
DeAppolonio added that despite continued investment, the conclusion was that the business could not be run responsibly.
The organization first opened a Counter-Strike division in 2001. Its roots go back to the Counter-Strike 1.6 era, when it was under Alexander Garfield and fielded players such as n0thing (2008-2012), Warden (2008-2009) and fRoD (2008-2011).
EG left CS in 2012 and returned seven years later, after PEAK6 acquired the brand, by signing the NRG lineup, then ranked fourth in the world. That squad won ESL New York 2019 and StarSeries Season 8, and reached number one in the HLTV ranking in September 2020.
Ethan later left for VALORANT, and the team could not repeat that success, dropping out of the top 30 in September 2021. In 2022 the organization launched the 'Blueprint' project with a 15-player roster, but it did not improve results and the brand's image suffered further. CEO Nicole LaPointe Jameson left in 2023, and in January 2024 the team exited Counter-Strike for a second time.