Nadeshot claims money is ruining the esports industry

Recently, popular creators, CouRageJD and Nadeshot, discussed everything 100 Thieves on the Colin and Samir podcast, including what they would have done differently and more.

Nadeshot, who is the CEO of 100 Thieves, and CouRageJD, who is a co-owner of the organization, both gave their brutal and honest thoughts on the company and the rollercoaster of emotions it has brought them in the past.

The two popular creators and businessmen attended the Colin and Samir podcast, where they talked about 100 Thieves. The talk was close to two hours long and went into heavy detail on why the two would never get into esports if they could have a do-over.

The group started off by discussing The Fortnite World Cup, where the game invested $100 million into esports.

"They did all these weekly online tournaments," said CouRageJD when talking about Fortnite. "The first weekend of it, one guy got first place, won a quarter of a million dollars and never showed up in an online tournament again. It was it was just the Wild West."

In the past, CouRageJD had also worked as a commentator during various tournaments, including the Fortnite World Cup.

"From esports as a whole, when money was getting insane and show rates were getting insane, I mean it was everywhere. The scale of these events kept getting bigger. And then we got to the point where people are like 'Alright, we did this big event. Where did we end up?' And it's like 'Well, we lost $3 million.'"

CouRageJD then made the point that gaining numbers in viewership is not enough when you are throwing millions of dollars into prize pools, which has become a prime reason why esports struggles sometimes.

"You go on that trajectory that esports was supposed to go on before a lot of billionaires and outside money saw it as a gold potential," said CouRageJD on esports.

100 Thieves has surely had its ups and downs, and many of the creators involved have felt creator burnout at some point. With various layoffs in the past, too, the question of how 100 Thieves is surviving has been asked by many.

Nadeshot, the CEO of 100 Thieves, even discussed at one point how he almost quit the organization while also talking about how 100 Thieves was able to hang on for so long.

"You make thought decisions. Don't have big expectations," said Nadeshot. "We're not investing to build a scale anymore or go to a higher scale. We're literally just riding the f**king wave."

With so many organizations attempting to be the biggest and the best, Nadeshot's words provide an insider look at just how some of these teams end up burning at one point.

"You make enough money so you don't go bankrupt. You stick around. You keep doing the games on stage. You go on that trajectory that esports was supposed to go on before a lot of billionaires and outside money saw it as a gold potential."

This led Nadeshot to mention how he would not go down the route of esports if he had to do everything with 100 Thieves again.

"With the amount of capital that we have raised, if we could go reset and start from scratch there probably would not be any focus on esports. If I had to make that decision today as a businessman who has tens of millions of dollars at his fingertips to deploy.

Nadeshot, too, has a lot of questions for the future of esports.

"I don't think anybody made the wrong decision at the time," said Nadeshot when talking about gaming companies investing millions of dollars into esports tournaments. "I would never do that again if I were writing the checks myself in this current age where the esports business actually is."

This led the entrepreneur to wonder just what the future of esports will look like.

"I'm curious in that perspective of, like, what needs to happen for the future of the esports landscape for it to be as big as everyone thought it was going to be."

The creator then talked about how it is getting close to time for him to step away as CEO.

"I am just not the right person to lead from a day-to-day operations perspective," said Nadeshot when asked about stepping down from being CEO. "I'm definitely transitioning away from CEO, whether it's this year or next. It's just been a tougher conversation because it's hard to hire somebody outside of the business."

With Nadeshot preparing to diminish his leadership with 100 Thieves, fans are wondering just who would take over next.

Watch the full interview below.

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