Evil Geniuses shut down for good on 2 November 2026. The Seattle-based esports organization, founded in 1999, ended all competitive and day-to-day operations after 27 years, releasing every player on every roster. Chief executive Chris DeAppolonio announced the closure on 20 October, citing limited sponsorship and rising costs.
What Ceased on 2 November 2026
Everything ceased at once, not one division at a time. The organization said it would “cease competitive and day-to-day operations effective November 2, 2026”, which covered both the teams and the company running them.
The timing differed slightly by game, because of where the season fell:
- From 20 October 2026: every player on every roster was free to speak with other organizations.
- From 2 November 2026: the Valorant players and coaches were free to sign elsewhere, once that season closed.
Evil Geniuses said it would wind down in an orderly fashion and work with the players, coaches and staff affected. It did not describe the closure as a bankruptcy or an insolvency.
Why Did Evil Geniuses Shut Down?
The organization said the money no longer worked. Its statement pointed to two pressures rather than a single event:
- Sponsorship and investment: both were constrained, and the statement described “significant headwinds, including limited sponsorship”.
- The cost of competing: fielding teams at the top level kept getting more expensive.
DeAppolonio’s conclusion was blunt: despite sustained investment, “the business cannot be operated responsibly in the current environment”. He also noted that the organization had spent the preceding years rebuilding how it operated, stabilising its operations and growing its engagement, and that this still was not enough.
Did Losing the VCT Partner Slot Cause the Closure?
Evil Geniuses never said it did. Its own statement does not connect the shutdown to the Valorant Champions Tour selection, even though the two landed within days of each other.
The sequence matters here, because it is easy to get backwards. Riot Games is cutting the number of partnered organizations in each international league from ten to eight from the 2027 season. Teams were told privately before the public announcement, and Evil Geniuses announced its closure on 20 October 2026 — two days before Riot published the full list of 32 partner teams on 22 October.
Evil Geniuses, Cloud9 and FURIA all lost partner status in the Americas league. The eight partners named for the 2027 and 2028 seasons were 100 Thieves, G2 Esports, KRÜ Esports, LEVIATÁN, LOUD, MIBR, NRG and Sentinels, with G2 the new entry.
So the fair reading is narrower than “Riot closed Evil Geniuses”. Losing a guaranteed, revenue-bearing slot in the league the organization was most active in removed its clearest path to stable income, and the closure followed within two days. The organization attributed the decision to sponsorship and costs.
Where Do Things Stand Now?
As of 11 November 2026, Evil Geniuses is closed and nothing has been announced about bringing it back. Its official website carries the closure statement and no longer lists rosters, active teams or merchandise.
PEAK6, the Chicago investment firm that bought the organization in May 2019, remains the parent company. No sale of the Evil Geniuses name, no buyer and no relaunch has been announced in the nine days since operations ended.
What Happened to the Players and Staff?
They were released as free agents. The final Valorant roster was Douglas “dgzin” Silva, Banh “bao” Bao, Javan “zerona” Varela, Jake “Paincakes” Hass and Phat “supamen” Le, all recorded as leaving on 20 October 2026.
DeAppolonio went further than a standard wind-down notice. He published his own email address, asked any organization that was hiring to contact him, and said he would “personally vouch for every player, creator, and staff member who worked here”.
No new team for any of those five players had been confirmed in public reporting as of 11 November 2026.
What Evil Geniuses Won in 27 Years
Its single biggest result was The International 2015 in Dota 2. On 8 August 2015 Evil Geniuses beat CDEC Gaming to take the title and 6,616,014 US dollars, then one of the largest prizes in esports, and became the first American-based team to win the event.
It won across an unusually wide spread of games for one brand:
- Dota 2: The International 2015.
- Valorant: Champions 2023, the first North American team to win it, under coach Christine “potter” Chi.
- Call of Duty: the 2018 Call of Duty Championship.
- League of Legends: the Spring 2022 LCS title.
The decline was visible well before the final announcement. Evil Geniuses left the LCS along with Golden Guardians, reducing that league to eight teams for 2024, and exited Counter-Strike for a second time in January 2024, the year after chief executive Nicole LaPointe Jameson departed.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1997 | Begins as a Quake clan in Victoria, British Columbia |
| 1999 | Evil Geniuses founded |
| 9 December 2014 | Twitch agrees to acquire parent company GoodGame Agency |
| 8 August 2015 | Wins The International 2015 |
| 12 December 2016 | Becomes a player-owned organization |
| May 2019 | PEAK6 acquires the organization |
| 2023 | Wins Valorant Champions; CEO Nicole LaPointe Jameson departs |
| January 2024 | Exits Counter-Strike for a second time |
| 20 October 2026 | Announces the closure |
| 2 November 2026 | All operations cease |
Is Evil Geniuses the Only Esports Org Closing?
No, and that is the part worth noticing. Complexity, another long-running North American organization, ceased operations after 23 years less than a month before Evil Geniuses announced its own closure, and WYLDE also shut down.
The squeeze is structural rather than a run of bad luck at single teams. Riot’s reduction from ten partner slots to eight per league means fewer guaranteed places for the same number of organizations, at a time when sponsorship money is harder to win. Cost pressure has pushed other businesses out of competitive gaming before, as when Twitch shut down its service in South Korea over high costs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Evil Geniuses Coming Back?
No return has been announced. As of 11 November 2026 there is no public plan to revive the organization, and no buyer for the brand has been named.
Did Evil Geniuses Go Bankrupt?
The organization did not present the closure that way. It said it would cease operations in an orderly fashion, and no bankruptcy or insolvency proceeding was described in its statement.
Who Owned Evil Geniuses?
PEAK6, a Chicago-based investment firm, acquired it in May 2019 and was still the parent company at the end. Before that it was player-owned from December 2016, and earlier sat under GoodGame Agency, which Twitch agreed to buy in December 2014.
What Was the Biggest Prize Evil Geniuses Ever Won?
6,616,014 US dollars for winning The International 2015 in Dota 2 on 8 August 2015.
Can You Still Buy Evil Geniuses Merchandise?
Not from the official website, which no longer lists merchandise or team rosters as of 11 November 2026.
