Guild Esports ends partnership with Bad News Eagles
28 May 2024
About half a year ago, at the moment of writing, London-based organisation Guild Esports signed an official partnership agreement with Eastern European organisation Bad News Eagles. The result of that deal was the creation of the Guild Eagles, the team with which Guild wanted to expand into the Counter-Strike universe. A lack of success for the team since then, with the recent failure to qualify for the Esports World Cup Closed Qualifier lowest point, had led to Guild deciding to part ways with Bad News Eagles just six months after creating the Guild Eagles.
Guild Eagles fail to make an impact
Initially, the partnership between Guild, one of the biggest names in UK esports, and Bad News Eagles made sense, as the latter had just competed in the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 and left a good impression. At that moment, about half a year ago at the time of writing, Guild was also looking to expand into other titles, including Counter-Strike, which made it the perfect moment for them to sign with a smaller and promising organisation like Bad News Eagles.
That was on paper though, because in practice, the collaboration between Guild and Bad News Eagles was far from a match made in heaven. Since its inception back in November of 2023, the Guild Eagles failed to qualify for a single important international event, including the upcoming Esports World Cup. This was the result of not finishing amongst the best two teams during the European open qualifying stage. This means that the Guild Eagles also failed to generate any kind of meaningful income for Guild Esports.
Guild still eyeing Counter-Strike
The disbanding of the Guild Eagles does not mean that Guild Esports has given up their Counter-Strike ambitions. On the contrary in fact, because the organisation has already said that it aims to remain in the world of Counter-Strike esports. Part of that undoubtedly has to do with the fact that Guild was recently named as one of the thirty so-called supporting esports organisations for the Esports World Cup. This international multi-title event is set to take place from July 4th 2024 to August 24th.
“Guild Esports decided alongside the Guild Eagles that it was the right decision to agree to mutually part ways”, writes Guild Esports in an official statement, “We’re very grateful to the full team for all of their hard work in the Guild jersey and we wish them all the best for the future. Guild will remain in Counter-Strike, keen to compete in the future, and this does not mark our exit from the title.”
It is not clear what will happen with the Bad News Eagles now that their affiliation with Guild has come to a premature end. Its members have already said that they are actively looking for new teams and on top of that, the Eastern European organisation got their biggest successes in the past when they were not part of a bigger organisation or sponsor. It will be interesting to see what their next step will be.