Australian esports organisation ORDER has entered external administration after pausing all operations, according to information provided by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission.
ORDER has entered voluntary administration which leaves the company in a position where it can look toward potential buyers or shut down, seemingly with the former being more likely. ORDER raised AUD$5.3m (~£2.94m) in April 2021.
The news was first reported by Dot Esports and local Australian news outlets on August 16th and 17th, with no official statement given by the organisation at the time of writing. According to Dot Esports, ORDER staff were informed of the situation on August 15th. This leaves its teams in League of Legends, VALORANT, Fortnite, FIFA and CS:GO without a company to support them.
Founded in 2017, ORDER is a prominent esports organisation within the Australian scene, as well as on an international scale. The organisation recently won the first split of League of Legends Circuit Oceania (LCO) 2022 and had a string of wins across regional VALORANT tournaments in 2021 and 2022. ORDER is owned by Disorder Media House, which is also known for producing a number of tournaments and leagues in Oceania. This includes events in Teamfight Tactics, Apex Legends and FIFA.
ORDER underwent a rebrand in early 2022 and featured content creators Fasffy, Stodgy, Nattea, Mitchgames, Bluey and Maximize on its roster.
The first signs of financial difficulties were made public in July 2022, when journalist James Fudge reported that ORDER laid off more than 10 employees. The company’s Chairman and Founder Gerard Murphy then said that the “recent moves in the capital markets” were to blame, and that the company “had no choice but to take a conservative approach to finances”. At the time, Murphy noted that ORDER is a strong brand and gave no hints of further issues.
