SK Gaming

When I started playing videogames seriously I was 13 or 14. Counter-Strike was the game and the competitors were organized in clans. 1997 is one of the biggest years of my age, google.com was registered, my future company Netgamez was founded in that year, and there are many more companies based on the new age of internet that started in that fine year. SK Gaming is not one of the big companies, but it is the leading company when it comes to gaming, and more specifically, e-sports.

In an earlier post I talked about the ESWC bankruptcy; three in a row and there is just one team that has managed to do just this. Through its leadership in many fields, most notable Counter-Strike, it was able to launch the SK Insider service, based on the gamers.nu model of having aspiring pro gamers pay for the privilege of  learning more about the game and their idols. 15% of the teams revenue is said to be derived from this income stream. This may not seem much but a team fielding 33 players with serious salaries, not all of them full-time but still, their overhead must be pretty big, not even mentioning the 10 full-time employees.

I think they are showing the way for gaming teams to go forward. Think about the american franchised based sports, NBA/NFL/NASCAR, and you know what I mean. Most of their income is received through sponsorships, but a solid amount of income is generated by fan-based services and merchandise.  They are one of the founders of the G7, not one of the best efforts around, but still a player-oriented organization working towards a standard e-sports practice in tournaments and competitions globally.

One of the owners has just done an interview with HLTV.org. Check it out over here. Andreas “bds” Thorstensson

More information can be found on their website: www.sk-gaming.com