Serious Gaming is a professional gaming team based in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It was founded in 2004 by entrepreneur Bas Peeperkorn. Serious Gaming is known for their achievements in

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...

Deathmatch Deathmatch, also known as free-for-all, is a gameplay mode integrated into many shooter games, including first-person shooter (FPS), and real-time strategy (RTS) video games, where the goal is to kill (or "frag") the other players' characters a ...

tournaments, most notably those by ''Quake'' series players Maciej "av3k" Krzykowski and

Alexey "cypher" Yanushevsky Alexey Yanushevsky (Алексе́й Анато́льевич Януше́вский) (born May 17, 1990), who also goes by the pseudonym "Cypher", resides in Minsk, and is a Belarusian professional player of the first person shooter series '' Qu ...

History

;2005 Serious Gaming was founded in 2004 by Bas Peeperkorn, the team's first signing was ''

Painkiller An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic (American English), analgaesic (British English), pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used to achieve relief from pain (that is, analgesia or pain management). It i ...

'' player Niels van Tilborg. ''Painkiller'' was the game used for the US$1,000,000

2005 CPL World Tour The 2005 CPL World Tour was a year-long gaming competition held by the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL). This competition took place throughout 2005, with a total of nine international stops and a finals event held in the New York City, Unite ...

and following van Tilborg the following players were signed and represented Serious Gaming throughout the tour: Fredrik Edesater and Stefan Timmermans. Highlights for the team included a ninth-place finish at the Chile stop and two players being among the 32 players in the world tour finals. In 2005 Serious Gaming also competed in televised competition at the World eSport Games in Seoul, Korea, being represented at the second edition of the event by a ''

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 ...

'' division consisting of Finnish players. This division would disband shortly after their stay in Seoul. ;2006–2007 Following the 2005 World Tour the main focus of the first-person shooter Deatmatch scene switched from ''Painkiller'' to the newly released ''

Quake IV ''Quake 4'' is a 2005 military science fiction first-person shooter video game developed by Raven Software and published by Activision. It is the fourth title in the ''Quake'' series, after the multiplayer ''Quake III Arena'', and a sequel to ' ...

'' and Serious Gaming followed. Contracts with van Tilborg and Edesater ended, Timmermans would take a management position and help guide two newly signed players in the professional gaming scene: Markus Andersen and

Maciej Krzykowski Maciej Krzykowski (born April 1, 1991), who goes by the pseudonym Av3k (), is a professional '' Quake'' and ''ShootMania'' player. He has Polish nationality and resides in Ostróda. He actively competes in international Quake competitions and was ...

. Andersen would develop into a champion player at the national level but never take the step to international competition. Kryzkowski quickly established himself as a major contender in international competition, being recognized as the newcomer of the year in all of eSports in 2006. Kryzkowski ended up winning the Quake competition at

ESWC 2007 The Electronic Sports World Convention (ESWC) (formerly known as Electronic Sports World Cup) is an international professional gaming championship. Every year, winners of national qualifier events around the world earn the right to represent thei ...

without losing a map, becoming the youngest Quake and ESWC world champion in history. 2006 was also the year Serious Gaming established a '' Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne'' division, originally signing Oskar Rudberg and Jos Buijvoets. Rudberg would retire shortly after joining and Buijvoets transitioned into a managerial role. The team signed and released a variety of players including (now) professional gamers Benjamin Baker and Daniel Spenst. Eventually a stable line-up of players would emerge that represented the team for several years including Kevin van der Kooi, Nikolaus Cassidy and Hjalmar Högberg. Serious Gaming also signed two separate European champion ''

Call of Duty 2 ''Call of Duty 2'' is a 2005 first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision in most regions of the world. It is the second installment of the ''Call of Duty'' series. Announced by Activision on April 7, ...

'' teams, the first of which disbanded several months after joining and the second of which disbanded after unsuccessfully trying to transition to '' Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare''. ;2008–2010 Following the collapse of the

World Series of Video Games World Series of Video Games (WSVG) was an international professional electronic sports competition. It held its first season in 2006, with competitions in six different games and six events held around the world including the finals of the event. T ...

the focus of the Deathmatch scene switched back to ''

Quake III ''Quake III Arena'' is a 1999 multiplayer-focused first-person shooter developed by id Software. The third installment of the ''Quake'' series, ''Arena'' differs from previous games by excluding a story-based single-player mode and focusing prima ...

'' in 2008. Serious Gaming signed

Alexey Yanushevsky Alexey Yanushevsky (Алексе́й Анато́льевич Януше́вский) (born May 17, 1990), who also goes by the pseudonym "Cypher", resides in Minsk, and is a Belarusian professional player of the first person shooter series ''Qua ...

in July 2008. Yanushevsky would win the 2008 Electronic Sports World Cup with Kryzkowski being unable to defend his title due to his visa being rejected. Yanushevsky would later also win the professional tournament at QuakeCon 2008 which was the first time

QuakeLive ''Quake Live'' is a first-person shooter, first-person arena shooter video game by id Software. It is an updated version of ''Quake III Arena'' that was originally designed as a free-to-play game launched via a web browser Plug-in (computing), pl ...

was used at a major professional gaming event, this game would quickly become the standard for professional Deathmatch competition and remains to be until today. The two would compete in various Quake competitions throughout 2008, 2009 and 2010 and in Tek-9 Network's inaugural QuakeLive ranking (February 2010) Yanushevsky was ranked the world's number one QuakeLive player with Kryzkowski taking a third place. Also signed 1 November 2009 was Adrien Denis "in full harmony with the teams philosophy of converting young talented players into tournament winners". Individual Serious Gaming players won tournaments at the national and continental level. After signing Kim Dong Hwan the team also competed at the highest levels of team leagues, culminating in a third place at the Warcraft 3 Champions League season XVI. Kim was recognized as one of the most impressive newcomers in Warcraft III. In 2010 Cassidy and Buijvoets would transition to form a ''StarCraft II'' squad competing in the newly released ''StarCraft II'' beta while both still filling a role in the WarCraft III division. This year van der Kooi would leave Serious Gaming to lead a ''

Heroes of Newerth ''Heroes of Newerth'' (''HoN'') was a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game originally developed by S2 Games for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The game idea was derived from the ''Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne'' custom ma ...

'' division for professional gaming team

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 ...

. Added in 2010 would be Lennart Roest in order to ensure the team's viability in team competitions. On 21 May 2010, van der Kooi re-joined the real-time strategy roster as part of the ''StarCraft II'' squad. He would be joined by Dlovan van den Bosch on 14 June 2010 and Alexander Hein on 11 August 2010. Serious Gaming also signed a French ''

Defense of the Ancients ''Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA'') is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) mod for the video game '' Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos'' (2002) and its expansion, '' The Frozen Throne''. The objective of the game is for each team to destroy ...

'' division in 2008. Several months after announcing the team the

Electronic Sports World Cup The Electronic Sports World Convention (ESWC) (formerly known as Electronic Sports World Cup) is an international professional gaming championship. Every year, winners of national qualifier events around the world earn the right to represent the ...

announced the inclusion of ''Defense of the Ancients'' at their main event. Serious Gaming ''Defense of the Ancients'' ended up winning the French championship and qualify for the 2008 Electronic Sports World Cup where they would take 7th place. Following this tournament the Serious Gaming organisation and its ''Defense of the Ancients'' division parted amicably.

Current team structure

Management

* Bas Peeperkorn, 2004–present (owner) * Jos Buijvoets, 2006–present (real-time strategy)

Players

, 2006–present (''Quake'' series) *

, 2008–2012(''Quake'' series) * Nikolaus Cassidy, 2007–2008 / 2009–present (''StarCraft II'') * Adrien Denis, 2009–present (''Quake'' Series) * Kim Dong Hwan, 2009–present (''StarCraft II) * Lennart Roest, 2010–present (''StarCraft II'') * Kevin van der Kooi, 2007–2010 / 2010–present (''StarCraft II'') * Dlovan van den Bosch 2010–present (''StarCraft II'') * Alexander Hein 2010–present (''StarCraft II'')

Notable former players and management

* Hjalmar Högberg, 2007–2010 (retired) * Benjamin Baker, 2006–2007 (signed with Four Kings) * Daniel Spenst, 2006 (signed with

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 won ...

) * Stefan Timmermans, 2005–2010 (Deathmatch manager and player)

Tournament results

2010

* 1st – ASUS Summer – Yanushevsky (QuakeLive) * 1st – QuakeCon 2010 professional tournament – Yanushevsky (QuakeLive) * 2nd – Electronic Sports World Cup 2010 – Krzykowski (QuakeLive) * 1st – DreamHack Summer Kaspersky QUAKE LIVE Championships – Krzykowski (QuakeLive) * 2nd – DreamHack Summer Kaspersky QUAKE LIVE Championships – Yanushevsky (QuakeLive) * 1st – ESL Electronic Pro Series Benelux season 4 – Denis (QuakeLive) * 1st – ASUS Spring – Yanushevsky (QuakeLive) * 3rd – ESL Intel Extreme Masters IV World Championship Finals – Krzykowski(QuakeLive) * 4th – ESL Intel Extreme Masters IV World Championship Finals – Yanushevsky (QuakeLive) * 1st – ASUS Winter – Yanushevsky (QuakeLive) * 3rd – WarCraft III Champions League season XVI – Real Time Strategy division (WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne) * 1st – ESL Extreme Masters IV European Championship Finals – Yanushevsky (QuakeLive) * 2nd – ESL Extreme Masters IV European Championship Finals – Krzykowski(QuakeLive) * 1st – XP League VI – Dong Hawn (''WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne'')

2009

* 4th – International e-Sports Festival – van der Kooi (WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne) * 1st –

Dreamhack Winter 2009 DreamHack is an ESL Gaming brand specializing in esports tournaments and other gaming conventions. It is recognized by the Guinness Book of Records and Twin Galaxies as being the world's largest LAN party and computer festival with the world's fa ...

– Krzykowski(QuakeLive) * 2nd – ESL Electronic Pro Series Scandanivia season 1 – Högberg (WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne) * 1st – ASUS Autumn – Yanushevsky (Quake III) * 3rd – QuakeCon Masters Tournament – Yanushevsky (QuakeLive) * 2nd – Intel Extreme Masters Global Challenge – Yanushevsky (QuakeLive) * 1st – ASUS Summer – Yanushevsky (Quake III) * 2nd – BlizzCon Regional Championship – Cassidy (WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne) * 2nd – European Nations Championship – van der Kooi, Buijvoets s part of team Netherlands(WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne) * 2nd – ESL Electronic Pro Series Benelux season 2 – van der Kooi (WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne)

2008

* 1st – ASUS Autumn – Yanushevsky (Quake III) * 1st – Dreamhack Winter 2008 professional competition – Krzykowski(Quake III) * 2nd – ESL Electronic Pro Series Benelux season 1 – van der Kooi (WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne) * 3rd – Electronic Sports World Cup Masters of Athens – Krzykowski(Quake III) * 4th – Electronic Sports World Cup Masters of Athens – Yanushevsky (Quake III) * 1st – BlizzCon Regional Championship – Cassidy (WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne) * 3rd – BlizzCon Regional Championship – Garneau (WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne) * 1st –

– Yanushevsky (Quake III) * 7th –

– Defense of the Ancients division (DotA) * 1st – QuakeCon 2008 QuakeLive Championship – Yanushevsky (QuakeLive) * 1st – GameGune – Krzykowski(Quake III) * 2nd – Warcraft 3 Premier League VIII – Real Time Strategy division (WarCraft III) * 3rd – Electronic Sports World Cup Masters of Paris – Krzykowski(Quake III) * 5th – Electronic Sports World Cup Masters of Paris – Defense of the Ancients division (DotA) * 1st – World Cyber Games Pan-American championship – Cassidy (WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne)

2007

* 2nd – Multiplay i32 $20.000 Quake IV Cup – Krzykowski(Quake IV) * 2nd – Stars War IV – Karev s part of team Romantic Elves(WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne) * 2nd – DreamHack Winter 2007 – Högberg (WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne) * 1st – Electronic Sports World Cup 2007 – Krzykowski(Quake IV) * 1st – World Series of Video Games, Louisville – Krzykowski(Quake IV) * 3rd – Wonderbase – Call of Duty 2 division (Call of Duty 2) * 1st – Crossfire Prize Challenge 2 – Call of Duty 2 division (Call of Duty 2) * 1st – Samsung Netgamez – Call of Duty 2 division (Call of Duty 2) * 1st – Multiplay i30 & Belkin Tournament – Krzykowski(Quake IV)

2006

* 3rd World Cyber Games All-stars 2on2 – Krzykowski(Quake IV) * 5th World Cyber Games All-stars 1on1 – Krzykowski(Quake IV) * 2nd Digital Life Expo – Kryzkowski (Quake IV) * 4th QuakeCon 2006 professional competition – Krzykowski(Quake IV) * 1st Samsung Netgamez – Krzykowski(Quake IV) * 1st Samsung Netgamez – Counter-strike division (Counter-Strike 1.6)

2005

* 9th CPL World Tour Chile – Edesater (Painkiller) * 9th World e-Sport Games II – Counter-strike division (Counter-Strike 1.6) * 1st World e-Sport Games II European qualifier – Counter-strike division (Counter-Strike 1.6)

References

{{Reflist, colwidth=30em 2004 establishments in the Netherlands Entertainment companies established in 2004 Esports teams based in the Netherlands Esports teams established in 2004 Quake teams Call of Duty teams Counter-Strike teams