Flames Out: Copenhagen Flames files for Bankruptcy

Copenhagen Flames, home for upcoming Danish talent, has ceased all its operations. After seven years in the industry, Steffen Thomsen, the CEO of Copenhagen Flames, released a statement announcing that the organisation has filed for bankruptcy. CPH Flames joins the long list of esports organisations that succumbed to the esports winter. 

A brief introduction -  Copenhagen Flames:

Founded in 2016 by Steffen Thomsen, Copenhagen Flames was a Danish esport organisation. Initially fielding a Rocket League, CS:GO and League roster to compete in Domestic events to go International. The biggest of them was CS:GO which had the most potential. CPH Flames has been home to a multiple of the most prominent new-gen Danish players, including TeSeS, Hooxi, Farlig, roeJ, refrezh, Jabbi, and nicoodoz.

As an organisation, CPH Flames significantly rose to prominence in 2021 and 2022. This occured when they qualified for the major as underdogs. At the returning Stockholm Major, they qualified as the contenders. They defeated their fellow Danes in Astralis and Heroic to qualify for the Legends stage. CPH Flames defeated Faze Clan in the Legends stage but fell to Ninjas in Pyjamas and Heroic to exit the major. At Antwerp 2022, CPH Flames qualified for the Legends stage as the winners of EU RMRS. They defeated ENCE and Imperial to qualify for the Champions stage. Unfortunately, they lost to ENCE, ending their run. While they failed to qualify for the last two CS:GO majors, they still were a prominent name in the Danish CS scene.

CPH flames statement post-bankruptcy:

After filing for bankruptcy and ceasing operations on 28th April, Steffen Thomsen released a statement last night. In the statement, Thomsen talks about the vision and retrospects on the last seven years of Copenhagen Flames. The filing came after them failing to find funding to support the organisation. With the filing, all the operations for the org are ceased, and the personnel, including the rosters, are released. Thomsen also talks about how 2021 and 2022, Especially 2021, were fiscally great years for the organisation. The same time they made it to CS:GO major qualifiers.

But during the last 6-9 months, the world economy took a significant hit after crypto crashes and the silicon valley bank crisis. This led to a plethora of trouble for the esports industry. The esports winter was especially hard for CPH Flames. They had trouble finding new sponsors and extending the already existing ones. While they had other revenue streams that provided services for other orgs, the cost-cutting in the industry also hit those revenue streams. They tried to find alternative sources to stay on the surface, but everything failed, and on the 28th of April, Copenhagen Flames filed for bankruptcy and ceased all their operations.

As mentioned in the statement, sponsors are scared to invest in the esports industry because multiple organisations face fiscal troubles and shutting down or cutting costs left and right. But the lack of sponsors leads organisations to run dry and shut down, creating a vicious cycle. As winter gets colder, more orgs might succumb to it, but today the cold win extinguished the Flames.

Credits: Copenhagen Flames

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