North American organisation UYU has hired Nicholas “Ashes” Ridgeway as its General Manager.
Ashes will also remain as coach of his long-standing Gears of War roster, which has just been signed by UYU.
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Ashes will support UYU’s roster of fighting game competitors and Call of Duty roster, as well as its newly-signed Gears of War team and content creators. His experience with OpTic Gaming as both a coach and Assistant General Manager has seen him entrusted with overseeing “all divisions of esports operations” at the organisation.
Not only that, but Ashes will help to scout talent in titles outside of UYU’s current offering in an effort to help it expand and broaden its horizons.
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Drew Kim, President of UYU, spoke to Esports Insider about the hire: “Ashes shares a lot of the same ideals and philosophies about player development, and esports in general, with our CEO Jinhee and myself, and through talking we quickly knew that his skill set as well as mentality would fit perfectly into our organization at an inflection point of growth for us. We have always had a holistic view of player development that starts at scouting, where I like to say we sign people not their results.
“UYU has always been about nurturing growth, both in terms of our players but also the scenes and regions we are involved in. Beyond being able to put together a championship roster, we are looking to build a community of gamers who will help define the culture of gaming and esports.”
Esports Insider says: Ashes is incredibly experienced at getting the best out of his players and spent time in the GM position at Infinite Esports & Entertainment’s OpTic Gaming. With this in mind, he seems like a great addition to UYU as it looks to continue growing.