Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) is a professional

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 ...

organisation based in Sweden that is best known for its ''

Counter-Strike ''Counter-Strike'' (''CS'') is a series of multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video games in which teams of terrorists battle to perpetrate an act of terror (bombing, hostage-taking, assassination) while counter-terrorists try to preven ...

'' teams. In 2012, the team reformed with a '' Counter Strike: Global Offensive'' lineup upon the release of the game. Aside from ''Counter-Strike'', the organisation has teams in ''

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 ...

'', ''

Rainbow Six Siege ''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege'' is an online tactical shooter video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on December 1, 2015; the game was ...

'', ''

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

'', and ''

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL''), commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for War ...

''. They formerly had teams in ''

Fortnite Battle Royale ''Fortnite Battle Royale'' is a free-to-play battle royale video game developed and published by Epic Games. It is a companion game to '' Fortnite: Save the World'', a cooperative survival game with construction elements. It was initially re ...

'', ''

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 f ...

'', ''

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds ''PUBG: Battlegrounds'' (previously known as ''PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds'') is a battle royale game developed by PUBG Studios and published by Krafton. The game, which was inspired by the Japanese film '' Battle Royale'' (2000), is based ...

'' and ''

Paladins The Paladins, also called the Twelve Peers, are twelve legendary knights, the foremost members of Charlemagne's royal court, court in the 8th century. They first appear in the medieval (12th century) ''chanson de geste'' cycle of the Matter of F ...

''.

History

Ninjas in Pyjamas were formed in June 2000. Their biggest success was winning the 2001

Cyberathlete Professional League The Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) was a professional sports tournament organization specializing in computer and console video game competitions. It was founded by Angel Munoz on June 27, 1997, in Dallas, Texas. The CPL is considered the ...

World Championships after an extremely close final with X3 (a forerunner to

Team 3D The Dudley Boyz (also known as Team 3D) are an American professional wrestling tag team that consisted of kayfabe half-brothers Bubba Ray Dudley (Mark LoMonaco) and D-Von Dudley (Devon Hughes). The team was also joined by various Dudley family me ...

). Ninjas in Pyjamas struggled to find a sponsor, and as a result, joined the prominent

organization

SK Gaming SK Gaming is a professional esports organization based in Germany that has teams across the world competing in different titles. SK is particularly known for their success in '' Counter-Strike'' (CS) tournaments. SK's Brazilian ''CS'' team wo ...

and were known by the names SK Scandinavia and later SK Sweden. At SK, they continued their success. The

prize money Prize money refers in particular to naval prize money, usually arising in naval warfare, but also in other circumstances. It was a monetary reward paid in accordance with the prize law of a belligerent state to the crew of a ship belonging to ...

from their

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

victories in 2003 totalled approximately US$170,000, and every CPL event that year. Feeling they could secure a larger share of sponsorship money, the team left SK in early 2005. Later in the year, some members returned to SK Gaming, forcing NIP to replace them. Emil Christensen with Tommy Ingemarsson, Managing Directors Peter Hedlund and Victor Lindqvist reformed NIP as a Swedish stock company in 2005, due to problems with SK. NIP continued to participate in international tournaments, placing high in many events. They signed some of the biggest sponsorship deals in the scene at that time. The team received about 100,000 members on their website in Europe during their first two years and was also the first team outside of Asia to enter the Asian market. Within six months, they had about 90,000 members on their Asian website. The team was among the most outspoken opponents to the change from the original version of ''

'' to the newer '' Counter-Strike: Source''. On 13 November 2015, NIP's parted ways with its ''Dota 2'' team, consisting of Elias 'Sealkid' Merta, Jonas 'Jonassomfan' Lindholm, Adrian 'Era' Kryeziu, Simon 'Handsken' Haag and Linus 'Limmp' Blomdin. The cited reason was disappointment over recent performances, as the team had failed to qualify for both

The International 2015 The International 2015 (TI5) was the fifth edition of The International, an annual ''Dota 2'' esports championship tournament, which took place at the KeyArena in Seattle. Hosted by Valve, the game's developer, the tournament began in May with ...

and

Frankfurt Major The Frankfurt Major, also known as the Fall Major, was a ''Dota 2'' tournament which took place from November 13–21, 2015. The tournament took place at the Festhalle Frankfurt in Frankfurt, Germany. It was the first of three Valve sponsored majo ...

. Since then, NIP have had two ''Dota 2'' teams, one formed in 2017 that disbanded later that year, as well as another formation in 2018. Christopher "GeT RiGhT" Alesund, one of the original 2012 NIP roster, left after the StarLadder Major Berlin 2019, being replaced by Simon "twist" Eliasson, a former player for

Fnatic Fnatic (pronounced "fanatic"; also stylized as fnatic or FNATIC) is a professional esports organization headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Founded 23 July 2004, the team has players from around the world, across a variety of games, such ...

, and leaving f0rest as the only remaining member of the original roster, until he left in 2020 to come back to the 2014 NIP roster on Dignitas. In July 2020, it was announced that NIP would be merging with Chinese esports organization

Victory Five Victory Five was a Chinese professional esports organisation based in Shenzhen. It was owned by Mario Ho, head of Macau's esports association and son of the late Stanley Ho. It had teams competing in ''League of Legends'' and ''PlayerUnknown' ...

Rosters

References

External links

Official website
{{Professional Counter-Strike competition 2000 establishments in Sweden Esports teams based in Sweden Esports teams established in 2000 Esports teams disestablished in 2007 Esports teams established in 2012 Counter-Strike teams Privately held companies of Sweden Defunct and inactive Overwatch teams Dota teams Former European League of Legends Championship Series teams Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege teams 2007 disestablishments in Sweden The Game Awards winners