Hear about the relationship between publishers and teams at #ESINYC

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Last Updated On

August 13, 2025

#ESINYC is an event taking place on April 23rd focused on networking and business development in and around esports and is set to welcome one of the best speaker lineups of esports B2B conferences yet.

200+ Delegates
40+ Leading industry speakers
5 Engaging panel sessions
4 Roundtables
One on one matchmaking opportunities
1 Extravagant networking after-party at Jay Z’s 40/40 Club
Supplementary events on the 22nd April evening, and 24th morning

For sponsorship queries and further questions, please email [email protected].

As we all know, esports is largely an umbrella term for an array of wonderful titles. From League of Legends and Dota through to Call of Duty and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, there’s a whole lot of titles for consumers to digest as and when they fancy.

Each title is often published by a different company, and from franchised leagues through to an open ecosystem – the approach taken by different publishers can vary dramatically. As such, housing a team in the likes of League of Legends – where the game is heavily franchised – will have differing demands on team owners than having a CS:GO team operating under Valve’s nascent ruleset.

It’s not always easy, as Nicolas Maurer, CEO of Team Vitality told ESI ahead of his panel discussion at #ESINYC: “The diversity of the ecosystem undoubtedly comes with challenges. Getting to know the processes and company philosophies of each publisher is time consuming; it takes a lot of work and resources on the team side. At the same time those interactions and work that goes into it helps us to evaluate the pros and cons of the different approaches, and push for industry best practices as we learn and iterate them.”

“The diversity of the ecosystem undoubtedly comes with challenges”

Each title will come with nuances and certain developers and publishers will have better relationships with teams than others. With the emergence of new game titles and esports scenes, a publisher’s reputation in esports may play a part in a team’s decision on whether or not to pick up a roster.

Maurer said on this: “For the key, tier one games, it doesn’t matter, very simply – we have to be present. If we feel the publisher doesn’t have the right approach, we’ll try to push them in the right direction, always with the goal of creating a fair and balanced ecosystem around their title

For tier two and three titles, publisher support, goodwill and openness really can make all the difference. If we know there is a path to supporting the teams (via in-game items and a rev share), dedicated resources to develop a good and sustainable product, naturally we’d be way more likely to invest there!”

Nico Maurer is just one member of a stacked panel mixed with team owners and publishers that will take place at #ESINYC. We’re delighted to welcome the following speakers for what’s sure to be a gem of a panel:

Nicolas Maurer, CEO, Team Vitality
Steve Arhancet, Co-CEO and Owner, Team Liquid
Chris Hopper, Head of Esports (NA), Riot Games
Ed Chang, Director of Business Strategy, EA Competitive Gaming
Nicola Piggott, Co-Founder, The Story Mob (Moderator)

Want to download the full agenda? Click here.

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Hear about the relationship between publishers and teams at #ESINYC

“The diversity of the ecosystem undoubtedly comes with challenges”

Want to download the full agenda? Click here.

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Ollie Ring