[0:00] I spent a million dollars on my Esports
[0:02] team and made a total of zero dollars hi
[0:05] I'm disguised toast and today I'll be
[0:09] telling you all about how the Esports
[0:10] industry is one of the worst thing you
[0:12] can get into four months ago I announced
[0:15] I created an Esports team and that it
[0:17] would cost me five hundred thousand
[0:19] dollars to run it for a year Well since
[0:22] then I decided to also pick up a League
[0:25] of Legends team and everyone told me
[0:27] that that's the second worst idea I've
[0:30] ever had the worst one being starting an
[0:33] Esports team so if you don't know a
[0:35] while ago all 10 League of Legends team
[0:38] in North America voted to um remove the
[0:42] requirement to have a secondary team
[0:44] like a Challengers team it's called The
[0:46] Academy team where you basically Foster
[0:48] and grow talent to One Day become like
[0:51] Pro players thing is this whole
[0:54] secondary team thing didn't really work
[0:56] out because it was just a place for old
[0:59] player is to kind of retire so I wasn't
[1:01] really growing new Talent so when Riot
[1:04] offered the opportunity to all these org
[1:07] owners hey do you guys want to keep this
[1:09] program going they all voted no because
[1:12] what better way to save money than to
[1:14] fire your secondary team you save a lot
[1:17] of money doing that actually problem is
[1:20] this change was supposed to take place
[1:22] next year but it happened this year and
[1:26] nobody told the players so now um there
[1:29] are a whole bunch of kids without a job
[1:31] in Los Angeles because they had to be in
[1:33] LA to be in this program and with the
[1:36] Esports procession in full effect it's
[1:38] not looking good for uh the players the
[1:41] orgs the League this move was so
[1:44] controversial that all the pro players
[1:46] protested by
[1:48] just not playing the whole season has
[1:51] been delayed by two weeks so when I see
[1:53] something on fire
[1:55] when I see a stock that's like all the
[1:58] way on the most downwards trajectory
[2:01] possible I think to myself hey what a
[2:04] great opportunity one man's trash is
[2:07] another man's less trashier trash but
[2:11] still kind of trash I saw this and as
[2:14] someone who has been playing League of
[2:16] Legends for like a decade I want to pick
[2:18] up some of these players you know that
[2:20] are now jobless and kind of keep their
[2:23] dreams alive and maybe bring some
[2:25] excitement back to the League of Legends
[2:27] scene God knows they need the help so
[2:29] that's why um I started a league team
[2:32] very silent
[2:34] it's the IRS wondering why I lost all my
[2:38] money this year so then last week my
[2:40] accountant messages me and says toast we
[2:43] need a talk and I was like oh that's
[2:45] kind of scary why are you talking like
[2:46] that well
[2:48] he told me that I'm actually on track to
[2:50] spend a million dollars this year double
[2:54] of what I was expecting and he sent over
[2:57] the spreadsheet with all these red
[2:59] numbers and I noticed that in the
[3:00] revenue section it was all blocked out
[3:02] and asked him why'd you block it out he
[3:04] said well it's not blocked out there's
[3:06] just nothing there you're not making any
[3:07] money then well how do you actually make
[3:09] money in Esports well if you look at any
[3:11] Esports org in North America all of them
[3:14] are either broke or going broke and I do
[3:17] mean all of them like some orgs will try
[3:21] and like put on a front and say hey
[3:23] we're still good we look good
[3:26] everything's cool here trust me when I
[3:29] say everyone is losing a lot of money A
[3:33] lot of people are being fired no org is
[3:36] safe right now layoffs are happening
[3:38] almost every week because if you can't
[3:40] make money which no one is doing then
[3:42] you need to stop spending money a penny
[3:44] save is a penny earned so obviously my
[3:47] first thought is well why don't I just
[3:48] get some sponsors as I'm sure all of you
[3:51] are thinking like sponsors sponsors will
[3:53] give you money to run your team right
[3:55] because sponsors gave all these other
[3:57] teams money and to run their teams hey
[3:59] Mr sponsor would you like to give us
[4:01] money and we'll display your logo on our
[4:04] social media or on our Jersey and we'll
[4:06] promote your products well it turns out
[4:09] that after 10 years of Esports teams
[4:12] kind of
[4:13] um lying misleading is the nicer term by
[4:16] saying hey
[4:17] give us some money and we're gonna use
[4:19] this money we're gonna get this Korean
[4:21] player and we're gonna win the World
[4:23] Championship then you're gonna be really
[4:25] popular no one did that the winning part
[4:28] they definitely did the Korean import
[4:30] part so 10 years of this of orgs
[4:33] constantly saying hey sponsor us we'll
[4:35] put you in our YouTube video Promise
[4:37] YouTube video that these orgs are
[4:39] putting out they get like 5 000 views
[4:41] here's an example I don't know which
[4:43] example is gonna be displayed I'm gonna
[4:46] leave that up to my editor it's not me
[4:48] roasting these orgs it's my editor I
[4:50] swear but man there are a lot of orgs
[4:52] with
[4:53] uh YouTube content that aren't being
[4:56] watched and each of a lot of them have a
[4:58] sponsor High to them and you look at the
[4:59] views as like 5K and these orgs got paid
[5:04] like tens of thousands if not hundreds
[5:06] of thousands to do this video 10 years
[5:08] of this
[5:09] um has made it so surprised Brands don't
[5:13] want to be in Esports because they're
[5:15] tired of bleeding money and I kid you
[5:17] not I had an experience we approached
[5:19] this very high profile energy drink
[5:23] brand who is currently sponsoring
[5:26] another really high profile Esports org
[5:30] and we went to them and we're like hey
[5:31] you know we noticed you're kind of in
[5:33] the Esports space we will love it if you
[5:35] guys partner up with this here are our
[5:37] numbers our YouTube numbers do twice as
[5:40] good our Twitter engagement is 10 times
[5:42] better and we only want half the money
[5:44] so like can we work something out and
[5:47] they said
[5:48] sorry we're leaving Esports and the only
[5:51] reason why we're still sponsoring this
[5:53] particular org is because our contract
[5:55] length so it ends next year and we are
[5:59] out of here because they definitely did
[6:02] not deliver on what they promised and
[6:04] that's pretty much the story across the
[6:06] board brands are scared of Esports
[6:08] because they invested millions and
[6:09] millions into it and they never got any
[6:12] significant return and no team ever
[6:15] really stopped in last decade and really
[6:17] asked themselves hey how do we really
[6:19] create a sustainable model how are how
[6:22] can we be financially responsible to our
[6:24] investors and to our sponsors no it was
[6:27] pretty much like hey we need money to
[6:29] get players we need money to sign
[6:31] streamers we need money to do this we
[6:33] need money to throw a big party because
[6:36] it's all about how we are perceived it's
[6:39] not it's about it's about money how can
[6:43] you survive all the orgs are now
[6:45] realizing oh you can't so what I've been
[6:47] doing is I've been working a little
[6:49] harder on my own stuff I've been taking
[6:53] the most sponsors I've ever taken in my
[6:56] career because every sponsor is like
[6:59] being able to pay for one more players
[7:01] you know salary for the months right and
[7:04] keeps the history going and buys me more
[7:06] time well I figure out how to make it
[7:08] all work merch is another big thing that
[7:10] people always point out hey do merge get
[7:12] merged get some jerseys God damn you
[7:14] toast we want to spend money well I
[7:16] don't think merch is something like that
[7:17] will solve a lot of these big points is
[7:20] like not a long-term sustainable model
[7:22] for Esports it definitely helps a lot
[7:25] it's been proven to make a decent amount
[7:27] of money and that's why Orcs like under
[7:28] thieves and Team Liquid they're always
[7:30] constantly promoting their merch and
[7:32] they're constantly doing a lot of drops
[7:34] because it's like a proven way
[7:38] and one of the very very few ways to
[7:40] actually make money but it also takes
[7:43] like minimum six months to create good
[7:45] pieces good drops and while yes I could
[7:48] have taken the DSG logo and slapped it
[7:50] on a yellow t-shirt and sold it for 20
[7:52] bucks and people definitely would have
[7:53] bought it I've always been very fixated
[7:55] on providing higher value when it comes
[7:58] to like merch like even my plushie um I
[8:01] like my plushie I think it's very like
[8:03] well made that you know the Hat stays on
[8:05] you got a big old mustache sunglasses
[8:08] you know it's nice it's simple it's high
[8:10] quality I think I sell these for like 25
[8:13] bucks maybe it should be 30 bucks
[8:14] because of inflation these days but I
[8:17] make a dollar one dollar from each of
[8:19] these and these are constantly sold out
[8:21] I'm just happy that people are happy
[8:23] with this and it's the same approach I
[8:24] would take with the DSG merch which is
[8:27] why it's taking so long please be
[8:29] patient I will work on it still gonna
[8:31] take a while it's probably gonna take
[8:33] six months from now maybe I'll get it
[8:34] out by Christmas who knows but the most
[8:36] important thing is when it comes to like
[8:38] streamer relationship not that we have a
[8:41] relationship viewers I'm not a
[8:42] parasocial like that but you know our
[8:44] career is based on fans supporting us
[8:48] and if I'm like gonna sell you guys
[8:50] something It's gotta be worth it my
[8:52] biggest fear is someone buying something
[8:54] off mine or like giving money to me in
[8:57] any way but feeling like after oh this
[9:00] wasn't worth it that would make me feel
[9:02] terrible um I did think of this last
[9:05] um way to make money that's worth
[9:08] looking into which is only fans except
[9:11] without the boobs so
[9:13] patreon
[9:15] um essentially fans on patreon usually
[9:18] pay a few bucks a month you see some
[9:19] cool and special content now this
[9:20] concept isn't new with streamers or
[9:22] Esports orgs actually well you have
[9:24] streamers like Hassan Lily Ludwig doing
[9:26] patreon for the podcast but for Esports
[9:28] Works they do something a little more
[9:30] how they perceive it as cool I'm not
[9:33] saying they're not cool I'm just saying
[9:34] like it's a little it's a little extra
[9:35] but yeah they create their own little
[9:37] platform and name it something like
[9:39] Cloud9 Stratus Liquid Plus the send
[9:43] Society for Sentinels and it's the same
[9:45] idea which is hey give us five bucks a
[9:47] month get some cool benefits like behind
[9:49] the scenes look without Pro players
[9:51] problem is not a lot of people are
[9:53] excited about watching pros play 20
[9:55] Questions with each other as these
[9:58] exclusive behind the scenes look because
[10:00] surprise Esports orgs are just
[10:02] absolutely terrible at making good
[10:05] content and they thought like hey why
[10:07] don't we humanize our Pro players in
[10:10] some way and they do a bad job but maybe
[10:12] the the idea is good right look if there
[10:15] are thousands of viewers willing to
[10:17] spend five bucks a month on millionaire
[10:20] streamers just for a little badge in
[10:22] their chat maybe there are some fans out
[10:25] there that are willing to throw in five
[10:26] bucks a month to keep a team going a
[10:28] team they like a team they support
[10:30] unlike other sports or traditional media
[10:33] streaming entertainment has always been
[10:35] free it never costs anything to watch
[10:38] anything all these hours of hours of
[10:40] streams and tournaments and events and
[10:42] that's what makes streaming so unique
[10:44] and that people only pay if they
[10:46] genuinely just want to support something
[10:48] and that's something pure about that so
[10:51] I'm gonna experiment with a patreon and
[10:54] all the money goes directly to the
[10:57] players and staff during watch parties
[10:59] I'll probably like put a little Patron
[11:01] chat up on screen in the corner so that
[11:03] people who do support the team
[11:05] financially can kind of like be
[11:07] showcased for the support like a weekly
[11:09] video where I give an update on how the
[11:12] teams are doing so this this week's
[11:14] video is probably going to be really
[11:15] depressing because our valorant team
[11:19] close
[11:21] is just money I'll get you the [ __ ]
[11:23] money dude don't call John Rose Broden
[11:25] where's Jody someone call somebody bro
[11:27] bro
[11:29] check him out bro these [ __ ]
[11:31] are shooting back all day long couldn't
[11:33] handle it his poor little heart dude
[11:35] he's just a team owner bro he wanted to
[11:37] do something different he wanted to do
[11:39] something no one else could did so bad
[11:42] we went oh and 11. in our last 11
[11:45] matches we did so bad that we got kicked
[11:48] out of
[11:51] um the Challenger league and we would
[11:53] have to re-qualify next year so it's
[11:56] it's gonna be a sad one obviously there
[11:59] are gonna be drastic changes made it's
[12:02] gonna be a little spicy of course anyone
[12:04] giving you know the SG five bucks a
[12:06] month in some way you are an investor
[12:10] not a legal investor I want to make that
[12:12] clear you are not owed any stock in the
[12:16] company but
[12:18] um you will be given uh essentially the
[12:21] the financials of the company if you are
[12:23] really curious about the the money
[12:25] breakdown that is something I'm gonna
[12:27] make available because if we are asking
[12:31] for you know fan support then it is
[12:34] really imperative that we are
[12:36] transparent with how that money is spent
[12:39] how that we have to be financially
[12:41] responsible and you guys will see in um
[12:44] the balance sheet that we are paying out
[12:47] players a pretty low amount
[12:51] um everyone that plays on DSG
[12:54] essentially take a pay cut everyone that
[12:56] works at DSG so we have essentially two
[13:01] full-time employees
[13:02] I've taken a pay cut from their previous
[13:04] job because it's just something they
[13:07] believe in and I'm super grateful that
[13:10] they are taking a chance with us and I'm
[13:13] hoping that with the patreon we can
[13:15] maybe bump everyone's salaries up a
[13:19] little bit so if you want to support the
[13:21] players you can do so over at
[13:23] patreon.com disguised and yeah that's uh
[13:27] that's my Esports update for y'all I'm
[13:30] really hoping in four months I'm not
[13:32] making another video titled how I spent
[13:34] two million dollars
[13:36] but uh who knows you want to watch our
[13:38] League of Legends games we are playing
[13:40] on the weekends Saturday Sunday and
[13:42] Mondays so please check them out if you
[13:45] are into League of Legends I know most
[13:47] people in N A are not anymore but for
[13:51] the for those still left
[13:53] um you can come check us out there
[13:55] and uh yeah I will see you all next time
[14:00] um
[14:01] bye