Beyond the Summit, The Guard shut down as esports layoffs spread
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Beyond the Summit (BTS), a premier esports production company and facility, announced it was laying off all its staff. This comes shortly after traditional sports-backed esports organization, The Guard, announced it would do the same. These layoffs signal that even prominent esports companies are feeling the chill of the esports winter.
Beyond the Summit was founded around 2012 as a passion project driven by love for the esports community. Over 11 years, BTS professionalized and become a premier tournament organizer and production company, particularly in the Dota 2 and Smash Bros. communities. More recently the company branched out into supporting creator-driven events.
BTS is known for its unique style, often focusing on a casual or homey feel rather than a more traditional stage set-up. Through this, BTS became a key player in esports. Despite its status, BTS is the latest casualty of the esports winter as layoffs spread.
“Based on our current financial outlook, and how challenging the next year looks, we’ve decided that it would be irresponsible to keep BTS going in its current structure. So, after nearly 11 years in business, we’ve made the extremely difficult decision to let all our people go,” said David “LD” Gorman, co-founder of BTS, in a statement.
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Gorman affirmed that Beyond the Summit shut its doors now so it did not leave its staff out in the cold. BTS will be keeping all full-time staff on payroll for the next 2
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