UK-based tournament operator and esports agency Promod Esports has reportedly filed for bankruptcy, with its entire staff being laid off.
First reported by The Esports Advocate, the company also allegedly owes payment to players and staff from VALORANT Challengers League Northern Europe Polaris: Split 2, among other events.
In a blog post on Sunday, Charlotte Willmott, a freelance producer and observer, noted that she is also allegedly owed money. She revealed that Promod owes her salaries for production work on a number of Promod events including the FIA Formula E Accelerate: Rome Major, FIA Formula E Accelerate: London LAN Finals, and Beacon Bingo in September. She has claimed that this totals a little over £1400.
Jake Murton, previously a Production Manager for Promod, has since publicly tweeted about the company’s layoffs.
Following the news, Riot Games announced that it has discontinued its VALORANT regional league (VRL) partnership with Promod. According to The Esports Advocate, the publisher is also considering consolidating or merging its Northern Europe VRL, which was operated by Promod, with its DACH VRL (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) if it can’t find a suitable solution to fill the vacant spot left by Promod.
Founded in 2019, Promod Esports is known for becoming the tournament organiser of the Valorant Regional League (VRL) in Northern Europe back in 2021. Polaris was a competition aimed at grassroots players in the UK, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, by giving teams within those regions a path into the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT).
In April 2022, Promod announced Beacon, a Valorant tournament circuit below Polaris to further foster domestic talents. Aside from VALORANT, it also managed the UK & Ireland Nationals, one of the second divisions in the Northern Premier League Rainbow Six Siege esports circuit, earlier at the start of the year.
The listed officers and directors of the company include Heather Dower (CEO of creative marketing agency Hotdrop), Rob Black (Promod Esports’ current CEO) and James Dean (Marketing Director of Antstream Arcade).
The latter, however, publicly stated on LinkedIn that he’s had “very little to do with Promod for the past 1.5 years” and that he’s currently in a legal dispute with the company.
