Press Play to Start: Moist Esports gives us a look into the future of the industry

Hey everyone, welcome back. I wanted to start this column by wishing you a happy New Year.

Yes, I realize I’m around … a month and a half late? But still, cut me some slack; this is my first column of the semester. And as every responsible homeowner will tell you, the first thing you do when you come back from a long break is to put everything in order. In my case, that means going over all the important stuff that went down before the start of my column. 

Now relax; I won’t do it in one fell swoop. After all, one measly column wouldn’t be enough to talk about all the issues that occurred over the past few months. So, instead, I’ll use this column to focus on something that went relatively unnoticed by major news outlets, but could have some real impact on those of us who enjoy esports as a whole.

Yes, that’s right, I’ll be talking about Ludwig becoming the co-owner of Moist Esports. 

For those who have been reading this column for a long time, you’ll probably remember Moist Esports from the column I wrote when the team was created. But for those of you who haven’t been around that long, Moist Esports is essentially an esports organization like any other, except that it is owned, created and operated by famous Twitch streamer Charles “MoistCr1TiKal” White Jr. In the column, I speculated on the team’s future. And while some of my observations hold up, I’m sad to say I left the biggest differential completely unnoticed: revenue. 

The reality is that many esports teams are highly unprofitable. Many teams have difficulty finding ways to generate profit because esports, in general, are still in a weird limbo between real sports and a niche audience. They have no option but to rely on investors, who, for one reason or another, usually end up leaving after a few years. Even FaZe Clan, one of the most famous esports teams that has gone public with their stock, has fallen on hard times. 

Moist Esports is no exception to this. White has routinely talked about how expensive the team is and how often it’s running on a net loss when it comes to earnings. But unlike all those other examples, Moist Esports doesn’t have to worry much about revenue. 

Because this time, the CEO is also the major investor. In other words, given that White is a successful streamer, he can single-handedly maintain the team’s financial viability solely through the revenue he earns as a content creator. Unlike the other investors, he will not abandon ship after a couple of years, and the team can focus on training because they don’t have to worry about suddenly downsizing.

The problem with this is that, naturally, it puts all the onus on White. If Moist Esports expands a bit too much, if he had a rough month streaming or wants to spend his money on something more expensive, the team would suffer as a result. It’s essentially like putting a band-aid on a deep cut: It’ll work for now, but if you don’t come in with better treatment it’ll lead to worse problems down the road. 

That is where Ludwig Ahgren comes in. A famous streamer in his own right, his decision to become co-owner of the company spells good news for the future of this business model. In the video he used to explain his decision, Ahgren outlines three potential forms of longstanding revenue for Moist Esports, most of which boil down to leaning into their abilities as content creators. 

Unlike the current business model that is akin to throwing coal at a furnace to keep a train running, the strategies that Ahgren offered, such as joint packaging to sponsors and using the team to sell original products, are genuinely more sustainable for the long run and less dependent on how the streamer is doing on any given month. By creating this interdependency or symbiosis between content creators and their teams, neither side is overburdened and can continue focusing on their respective roles. The CEOs will still have to deal with the brunt of the decisions, but less in an “atlas holding the weight of the world” kind of way and more like a normal company executive. 

Of course, the suggestions Ludwig proposed are no silver bullet. After all, they still rely on the fact that the owners are content creators to generate revenue and thus haven’t made the product any more viable on its own. Who knows, maybe no sponsors will want to make that joint deal, and maybe the amount of capital needed to create a whole product that your team sells is just too much. But as of right now, his comments offer a possible future for the industry. 

As creators continue to grow in numbers, Moist Esports will likely be the team they all keep an eye on. Because if Ahgren and White manage to turn this team into something viable, even if they still have to use their position as content creators as leverage, then we may be seeing a sneak peek into what the industry will look like in the near future. 

Guilherme Guerreiro is a senior writing about esports. His column “Press Play to Start” runs every other Wednesday.