NYXL is a collective

esports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although orga ...

and gaming organization based in New York. Launched under the name Andbox in 2019 by Sterling.VC, an investment fund backed by Sterling Equities, to operate esports franchises

New York Excelsior The New York Excelsior (often stylized as NYXL) is an American professional ''Overwatch'' esports team based in New York City, New York. The Excelsior compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West region. Founded in 2017 ...

and

New York Subliners The New York Subliners are an American professional Call of Duty League (CDL) esports team based in New York City, New York. The team is owned by NYXL, an esports organization owned by Sterling Equities Sterling Equities in Great Neck, New Y ...

, it was the first esports organization in New York to span multiple franchises. The organization established two more esports teams by 2021, and in March 2022, it rebranded as NYXL.

History

Andbox (2019–2022)

In July 2017, video game company Activision Blizzard announced that

Jeff Wilpon Jeffrey Scott Wilpon (born December 9, 1961) is an American businessman who is the executive vice-president of Sterling Equities, and the owner of the Overwatch League Esports team the New York Excelsior. He is the former COO of the New York Mets b ...

, co-founder and partner of Sterling.VC, an investment fund backed by Sterling Equities, had purchased a team, later branded as the

, for the upcoming Overwatch League, a professional, city-based, franchised esports league for the video game ''

Overwatch ''Overwatch'' is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of online multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment: ''Overwatch'' released in 2016, and ''Overwatch 2'' released in 2022. Both games fea ...

''. In May 2019, Activision Blizzard announced that Sterling.VC had purchased the New York franchise slot, with the team later branded the

, for Activision Blizzard's second professional, city-based, franchised esports league, the Call of Duty League. To oversee the two franchises, Sterling.VC established New York's first esports organization to span multiple franchises, Andbox, which was unveiled on June 10, 2019 and would be headed by co-founders Scott Wilpon, Farzam Kamel and Rohit Gupta. Andbox entered its third esports market in September 2020, signing a ''

Valorant ''Valorant'' is a free-to-play first-person tactical hero shooter developed and published by Riot Games, for Windows. Teased under the codename ''Project A'' in October 2019, the game began a closed beta period with limited access on April 7 ...

'' team, which would compete under the Andbox name. In June 2021, the organization partnered with Trovo Mayhem to create a new ''

Call of Duty Mobile ''Call of Duty: Mobile'' is a free-to-play shooter game developed by TiMi Studio Group and published by Activision for Android and iOS. It was released on October 1, 2019, where it was one of the largest mobile game launches in history, generat ...

'' team, in which Trovo Mayhem was renamed to NYSL Mayhem. Andbox named '' A Million Little Pieces'' author

James Frey James Frey (born September 12, 1969) is an American writer and businessman. His first two books, ''A Million Little Pieces'' (2003) and ''My Friend Leonard'' (2005), were bestsellers marketed as memoirs. Large parts of the stories were later fo ...

as its first CEO in January 2022.

NYXL (2022–present)

On March 23, 2022, Andbox rebranded as NYXL. Along with the rebrand, the organization announced that it would be making a seven-figure investment into New York City's gaming community over the coming year, which includes building its headquarters, XLHQ, in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and establishing a youth training program, YXL. NYXL also rebranded their ''Valorant'' team from Andbox to the NY Fury.

References

External links

* {{New York Excelsior, state=collapsed Esports organizations American companies established in 2019