PvP Live, a once up-and-coming esports platform that hosted competitive gaming tournaments, has somewhat-suddenly announced it has ended operations immediately.
Also posting relevant news from the esports industry, PvP Live was launched in 2015 in Frisco, Texas. Starting off primarily as a news outlet, it began hosting tournaments in Hearthstone and World of Warcraft before raising $2,000,000 (£1,434,320) in private funding. From there, it worked towards organising and broadcasting leagues, ladders, and tournaments in numerous esports titles.
Reasons for the website seizing operations so quickly are yet to surface, and it came as a surprise to many since there were no signs of such a thing being on the horizon. In a tweet, PvP Live explained that competitors can withdraw their account balance within the next 180 days.
To the #PvPFam ?
We are sad to announce that we will be ending operations effective today.
All remaining money in user accounts is available to withdraw immediately. Users can contact support@pvp-live.com over the next 180 days to withdraw their total balance.
Thank You.
— PvP Live (@PVPLive) February 5, 2018
Scotty Tidwell, the Chief Marketing Officer for PvP Live for almost a year, commented on the surprise closure on Twitter. “Devastated to hear [PVP Live] is shutting down today,” he tweeted. “Put my heart and soul into PvP when I joined, and I feel we turned a brand around from something that was stagnant and made it into something great, with crazy growth…”
“I’m at a loss for words. This one hurts,” Tidwell concluded. PvP Live recruiting players mostly from the Call of Duty scene to promote its competitive services, including Team Kaliber, in hopes to compete with rival platforms such as UMG and GameBattles.
Esports Insider says: PvP Live hadn’t been solely focused on competition for long at all, and it seemed to be growing quickly in popularity, so it’s a shock to see that it’s no longer operating. We sincerely hope it doesn’t discourage other companies from hosting leagues and ladders in the esports scene.