Danish organization files for bankruptcy, all staff let go

Last week, Steffen Thomsen, CEO at Copenhagen Flames, filed for bankruptcy on behalf of Copenhagen Flames bringing an end to a the longtime organization. The Danish company, which entered Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in 2016 has played a massive role in the development of Danish talent and operating as a company that tended to punch above their weight in the CS:GO space.

The announcement comes two weeks after Copenhagen Flames asked for an investment of 5 million Danish krona in order to "restructure and lay the foundations for profitability in 2024". With the announcement of the bankruptcy, it appears the company was unable to find any outside investment.

In a message to supporters, Thomsen cited the current economic climate as the catalyst for the bankruptcy proceedings.

With the financial crisis and the way it affected us already at the end of last year, we started looking into how to reduce our spending... We ramped up our search for partners and began investor talks early this year. We discussed different scenarios of reducing costs even further both internally and with potential investors and did pretty much everything to get a plan in place that would help us fund the club for another year. Throughout this process investors have been interested in the club, but have been put off by how the esports scene has developed the past year. Clubs cutting costs, terminating personnel, investors having to cover losses and so on. And of course the fact that we needed money straight away wasn’t exactly attractive. Sadly we were denied time and time again and failed to secure the funds needed to save the club.

It was quite a turn for the organization, which had been featured in two CS:GO Majors and began to be so profitable that the summer of 2022 was the first time since the organization's founding that they did not have to constantly worry about financial issues.

As of today, Copenhagen Flames has ceased to exist and all staff members have been terminated. The club has had a major history of producing and cultivating talent in Denmark. The organization turned heads in 2021 and 2022 when they qualified for both the PGL Stockholm and PGL Antwerp Majors, the latter of which included a playoff appearance.

Players like current G2 IGL Rasmus "HooXi" Nielsen, fnatic players Nico "nicoodoz" Tamjidi and Fredrik "reoj" Jørgensen, as well as HEROIC standout Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard, all featured for the organization and are considered some of the best players to come from the nation.

Sadly, the economic turmoil has continued to impact clubs worldwide as HEROIC needed to secure emergency funding to remain viable through 2022 and stock prices for several esports teams have tumbled. Others companies are looking towards downsizing as they look to endure a tough year financially.