CEO Na`Vi fears the future of esports will be deadlocked without investment

The CEO of esports organization Natus Vincere, Yevgeny “HairsPilton” Zolotarev, detailed the process of running an esports team, going international, creating a strong team while still making profits in the esports industry. extremely competitive.

Recently, Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodenskiy joined the organization as esports director. Where did this idea come from?

Actually, this idea has been around for a long time. We’re pretty close to Andrey, we’ve all played together, but in the end we didn’t go together. Even so, we still keep in touch, share ideas about CS and other things.

I have always considered him an intelligence specialist, he knows who the young talents are, he also has a lot of experience in the professional arena: player, captain, coach. His main advantage, unlike 90% of other former esports players, is that he focuses on the business side, he knows how to grow the organization like a business. I think he’s a great fit for this position.

Previously, Na`Vi never had this position?

Not really in the last 2 and a half years, but before that I took over this position myself when Alexander “ZeroGravity” Kokhanovsky nominated me in 2016. I worked in this position for 6 months and then took over as CEO ending. co-director of esports, and ZeroGravity withdrew.

This position may be new, but is essential for big clubs. For example, Team Liquid has many managers at the same time, each in charge of a different area. Na`Vi, like many other multidisciplinary organizations, needs the same support.

Will B1ad3 only take care of Counter-Strike?

No, all teams, including Dota 2. The esports director is the person responsible for everything the organization does. Transfer policy, match schedule, bootcamp schedule and more.

I consider B1ad3 to be a seasoned expert in talent acquisition, coaching, and coaching. As CEO, I still have operations, finance, communications and marketing, everything else is up to B1ad3.

With the participation of B1ad3, will you open another youth training center?

Well, in the near future it will appear. Currently, the market is saturated, and the organization has matured. We have the human and financial resources to implement these plans. More details will be shared soon in the official announcement.

I can say that there are a lot of opportunities for young players. I really want to use my experience to work with young people.

Let’s talk about the Dota 2 team. The team gets a lot of support, but the results are not there?

The team environment is good, but if the members don’t work together or if we feel unsatisfied with their discipline, it can be said that the organization is lazy or something like that. Specifically, with the Dota 2 lineup – the team has no discipline problems, everyone works hard, even after losing the match.

We are not satisfied with the results yet, but I see their hard work, they live with DotA and have no problems internally. There are just a few issues in the game that we’re working on fixing.

Either way, those are the positives – some players 6 months ago were unknown, and since then they’ve really improved in skill, hero pool, LAN experience, etc. I always Try to find the positive in everything and we will actively pursue it.

Are you involved inside the team? Do you give an opinion or express displeasure?

Na`Vi has a manager, coach, captain, and even an analyst who works with the players remotely. In the past bootcamps, we’ve also brought in a psychologist, who the team plans to work with next.

I’m not good enough in DotA to give an opinion. Firstly, I love the game as a fan, I can be disgruntled, angry about the decision why they picked that hero and not another, and jump to conclusions from the comments and analysis. accumulator. With my game level, I don’t allow myself to comment on the game.

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Is attracting foreign fans the goal of signing international players (Fortnite, Rainbow Six Siege)?

Of course, we fully understand we have to improve sales. Unfortunately, that is very difficult in the CIS region.

We are not contemplating leaving CIS esports, this is the origin of the organization. We, like any multi-sport esports organization, are working to increase our presence in other regions. For example, Team Liquid, FaZe Clan, and Ninjas in Pajamas all feature Brazilian Rainbow Six Siege rosters.

Recently, we can see that tier 2 esports is “stagnating” – less sponsorship, less interested viewers, less fans. Do you think this is bad for esports?

To earn good sponsorship, you need to come up with compelling numbers: audience, engagement, views or results.

Sponsors calculate ROI (return on investment) – clicks, everything related, the more videos, the more comments, etc., the better.

Na`Vi currently has no such problem. As a business model, Natus Vincere can be called a stand-alone asset, and it can be self-sustaining, but either way, the investment is essential for the future. Esports never stands still.

According to Vieesports