![\"\"](\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/version1-large.jpg\")
North American esports organisation Version1 <\/strong>is hoping to merge with, or be acquired by, a fellow esports organisation, according to an interview with its COO Brett Diamond<\/strong> in Digiday<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
Diamond states that despite \u201cmeeting financial projections every year the organisation has existed\u201d, the team\u2019s leadership believes that strengthening V1\u2019s financial resilience would pay off in the long term amid a period of esports consolidation.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
- \n
- CLG acquired by North American esports organisation NRG<\/a><\/li>\n
- TSM reportedly pulling out of several titles as CEO says it’s ‘committed to esports’<\/a><\/li>\n
- Rocket League news outlet Shift to shutter site at end of April<\/a><\/li>\n <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
![\"ESI](\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/ESISG-WebsitePromoDivider-824x152px.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n \nVersion1 currently operates three esports divisions: Call of Duty League franchise Minnesota ROKKR, Rocket League pro and academy teams, and a female VALORANT roster. The organisation is jointly owned by the Wilf family and New York city-based investors WISE Ventures.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
\n \nAccording to the interview, other options for Version1\u2019s future include taking on further investment, which would be tough in a challenging fundraising environment, or looking for ways to pivot the business into another business area that could help shore up finances in the longer term.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
\n \nSpeaking to Fox9<\/strong><\/a>, Diamond commented that the CDL\u2019s Call of Duty franchise would be particularly attractive to a potential acquirer. “We\u2019ve had productive conversations with a number of different esports organisations,” said Diamond. “None of them are currently in Call of Duty.”<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
\n \nA potential sales process would ideally include current owners the Wilf family in some capacity but other \u201cstrategic alternatives\u201d are also being explored. Layoffs will be a key concern for current ownership as newly-merged organisations often undergo a process of cost-cutting<\/strong><\/a> to ensure fiscal sustainability.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
\n \nVersion1 are the second team to see rumours of a potential acquisition in as many weeks. Counter Logic Gaming was officially acquired by fellow esports organisation NRG<\/strong><\/a> on
Thursday last week. The deal was accompanied by mass layoffs across the company including CEO Greg Kim <\/strong>although the League of Legends team was retained, along with its support staff, pending a planned re-brand.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Image: Gen.G North American esports organisation Version1 is hoping to merge with, or be acquired by, a fellow esports organisation, according to an interview with its COO Brett Diamond in Digiday. Diamond states that despite \u201cmeeting financial projections every year the organisation has existed\u201d, the team\u2019s leadership believes that strengthening V1\u2019s financial resilience would pay … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":137752,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","esi_template":"default","excluded":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,55,5283,106,237,240,8701,8723],"tags":[16104,942,14133,11050],"class_list":["post-137749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commercial","category-esports-titles","category-investments","category-latest-news","category-news-by-region","category-north-america","category-shooters","category-valorant","tag-acquisitions","tag-clg","tag-layoffs","tag-version1"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Esports organisation Version1 seeking merger<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Esports organisation Version1 seeking merger\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Esports Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-14T10:42:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-14T10:42:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/version1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1038\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Patrick Walker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/PatrickHWalker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@esportsinsider\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Patrick Walker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Patrick Walker\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e2f8e8832bafe715496df1497148d979\"},\"headline\":\"Esports organisation Version1 seeking merger\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-14T10:42:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-14T10:42:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger\"},\"wordCount\":310,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/version1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"acquisitions\",\"clg\",\"layoffs\",\"Version1\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Commercial\",\"Games\",\"Investments, M&A\",\"Latest News\",\"Markets\",\"North America\",\"Shooters\",\"VALORANT\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger\",\"name\":\"Esports organisation Version1 seeking merger\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/version1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-14T10:42:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-14T10:42:48+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/version1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/version1.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1038},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Esports organisation Version1 seeking merger\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/\",\"name\":\"Esports Insider\",\"description\":\"Definitive source for everything esports business\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Esports Insider\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/esi_logo_white.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/esi_logo_white.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":900,\"caption\":\"Esports Insider\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/esportsinsider\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e2f8e8832bafe715496df1497148d979\",\"name\":\"Patrick Walker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3716dbf3640ef0066f1937dcc1f3be19?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3716dbf3640ef0066f1937dcc1f3be19?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Patrick Walker\"},\"description\":\"Patrick is a freelance journalist for ESI based in London, reporting on esports marketing and partnerships trends.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/patrick-walker-0570311b8\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/PatrickHWalker\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/author\/patrick-walker\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Esports organisation Version1 seeking merger","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Esports organisation Version1 seeking merger","og_url":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger","og_site_name":"Esports Insider","article_published_time":"2023-04-14T10:42:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-14T10:42:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1038,"url":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/version1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Patrick Walker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/PatrickHWalker","twitter_site":"@esportsinsider","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Patrick Walker","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger"},"author":{"name":"Patrick Walker","@id":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e2f8e8832bafe715496df1497148d979"},"headline":"Esports organisation Version1 seeking merger","datePublished":"2023-04-14T10:42:42+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-14T10:42:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger"},"wordCount":310,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/version1.jpg","keywords":["acquisitions","clg","layoffs","Version1"],"articleSection":["Commercial","Games","Investments, M&A","Latest News","Markets","North America","Shooters","VALORANT"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger","url":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger","name":"Esports organisation Version1 seeking merger","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/version1.jpg","datePublished":"2023-04-14T10:42:42+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-14T10:42:48+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/version1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/version1.jpg","width":1920,"height":1038},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2023\/04\/version1-esports-merger#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Esports organisation Version1 seeking merger"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/","name":"Esports Insider","description":"Definitive source for everything esports business","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/#organization","name":"Esports Insider","url":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/esi_logo_white.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/esi_logo_white.jpg","width":900,"height":900,"caption":"Esports Insider"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/esportsinsider"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e2f8e8832bafe715496df1497148d979","name":"Patrick Walker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3716dbf3640ef0066f1937dcc1f3be19?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3716dbf3640ef0066f1937dcc1f3be19?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Patrick Walker"},"description":"Patrick is a freelance journalist for ESI based in London, reporting on esports marketing and partnerships trends.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/patrick-walker-0570311b8\/","https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/PatrickHWalker"],"url":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/author\/patrick-walker"}]}},"modified_by":"Tom Daniels","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137749"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137757,"href":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137749\/revisions\/137757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}