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NRG Esports is an American
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 ...
organization based in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. It has rosters in ''
Apex Legends ''Apex Legends'' is a free-to-play Battle royale game, battle royale-hero shooter game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in February 2019, for Nintendo ...
'', ''
Clash Royale ''Clash Royale'' is a free-to-play real-time strategy video game developed and published by Supercell. The game combines elements from collectible card games, tower defense, and multiplayer online battle arena. The game was released globally ...
'', ''
Dragon Ball FighterZ ''Dragon Ball FighterZ'' (pronounced "fighters") is a 2.5D fighting game, developed by Arc System Works and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Based on the ''Dragon Ball'' franchise, it was released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Micr ...
'', ''
Fortnite ''Fortnite'' is an online video game developed by Epic Games and released in 2017. It is available in three distinct game mode versions that otherwise share the same general gameplay and game engine: ''Fortnite Battle Royale'', a free-to-p ...
'', ''
Gears of War ''Gears of War'' is a media franchise centered on a series of video games created by Epic Games, developed and managed by The Coalition, and owned and published by Xbox Game Studios. The franchise is best known for its third-person shooter vide ...
'', ''
Hearthstone ''Hearthstone'' is a free-to-play online digital collectible card game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. Originally subtitled ''Heroes of Warcraft'', ''Hearthstone'' builds upon the existing lore of the ''Warcraft'' series by u ...
'', ''
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 ...
'', ''
Rocket League ''Rocket League'' is a vehicular soccer video game developed and published by Psyonix. The game was first released for Windows and PlayStation 4 in July 2015, with ports for Xbox One and Nintendo Switch being released later on. In June 2016, ...
'', ''
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 ...
'',
speedrunning Speedrunning is the act of playing a video game, or section of a video game, with the goal of completing it as fast as possible. Speedrunning often involves following planned routes, which may incorporate sequence breaking and can exploit glit ...
and a number of streamers on the internet platform
Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle con ...
.


History

The team was founded by
Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...
co-owners
Mark Mastrov Mark S. Mastrov is an American businessman who is the founder and former CEO of 24 Hour Fitness. He is also part of the Sacramento Kings ownership group. Career The 24 Hour Fitness began in 1983 as a one-club operation called 24 Hour Nautilus. ...
and Andy Miller in November 2015. In March 2016 NRG announced that
Alex Rodriguez Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975), nicknamed "A-Rod", is an American former professional baseball shortstop and third baseman, businessman and philanthropist. Rodriguez played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the ...
,
Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), known commonly as "Shaq" ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. O'Neal is regarded as one of the greates ...
and
Jimmy Rollins James Calvin Rollins (born November 27, 1978), nicknamed "J-Roll", is an American former professional baseball shortstop, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies (–), Los Angeles Dodgers (), and Chicago White S ...
were joining as investors. On April 20, 2018, Tiesto was announced as an investor. In August 2017, the Canadian esports company Northern Gaming was acquired by NRG. Northern Gaming's co-owners were rolled into NRG, making twitch streamer
Sodapoppin Thomas Chance Morris (born February 15, 1994), better known as Sodapoppin, is an American Twitch streamer and YouTuber. He has one of the largest followings on Twitch, with over 8.7 million followers and over 398.3 million views as of August 1 ...
a named advisor and co-owner. In September 2019, it was announced that Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez had joined as co-CEO, after another announcement the same day that Hector and the
Immortals Gaming Club Immortals, LLC, doing business as Immortals Gaming Club (IGC), is a collective esports and gaming company. The company rebranded from Immortals to Immortals Gaming Club in 2019 after they acquired Brazil's Gamers Club. IGC owns and operates IGC E ...
had parted ways. On August 24, 2020, ''
Tubefilter Tubefilter, Inc. is a privately held company based in Los Angeles, California that operates media businesses focusing on the online entertainment industry. Tubefilter is best known for Tubefilter News, a blog targeted at the fans, creators, pro ...
'' announced that NRG partnered with
Shots Studios Shots Podcast Network is a podcasting company founded by brothers John Shahidi and Sam Shahidi. The company was originally founded as a software development company named Rock Software in 2009, creating mobile games along with YouTube channels ...
, a Los Angeles-based production and management company, for content production, social strategy, and merchandising.


Current divisions


''Apex Legends''

On February 11, 2019, NRG became one of the first organizations to sign a professional ''Apex Legends'' player with the signing of Coby "Dizzy" Meadows. The team signed Brandon "Aceu" Winn and Marshall "Mohr" Mohr in March and May, respectively, to round out its three-player squad. Dizzy competed in the first-ever Apex Legends Pro-Am, securing 1st place, the tournament's MVP award, and a $23,000 charitable donation to the
V Foundation James Thomas Anthony Valvano (March 10, 1946 – April 28, 1993), nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball player, coach, and broadcaster. Valvano had a successful coaching career with multiple schools, most notably at North Caroli ...
. Following the retirement of Dizzy in December 2019, the team picked up their new talent Joseph "Frexs" Sanchez in the beginning of January, about a month later. In July 23, 2022, after the ALGS 2022: Championship, Aidan "rocker" Grodin announced his departure from the team. On August 13, the team signed Dennis "Gilderson" Zachary as their third teammate.


Current roster


''Overwatch''

On August 3, NRG signed the members of the former ''
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 ...
'' team
Luminosity Gaming Luminosity Gaming is a professional esports organization based in North America. It has teams competing in '' Call of Duty, Overwatch, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege'', '' Super Smash Bros.'', ''Fortnite,'' ''Apex Legends and Rocket League''. ...
. NRG owns the
Overwatch League The Overwatch League (OWL) is a professional esports league for the video game ''Overwatch'', produced by its developer, Blizzard Entertainment. The Overwatch League follows the model of other traditional North American professional sporting lea ...
team
San Francisco Shock The San Francisco Shock are an American professional ''Overwatch'' esports team based in San Francisco, California. The Shock compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West region. Founded in 2017, the San Francisco Shock ...
, whose roster is listed below. NRG owned an
Overwatch Contenders Overwatch Contenders (OWC) is an international esports league for the video game ''Overwatch'' that is organized by Blizzard Entertainment. The series acts as the development league for aspiring Overwatch League (OWL) professionals. Founded in 2 ...
team competing as the Shock's academy team up until May 8, 2019, when they withdrew their participation in the tournament.


Current roster


''Rocket League''

NRG Esports signed the ''Kings of Urban'' roster after a strong finish in their region in RLCS Season 1 in 2016. RLCS Season 2 saw NRG bow out of the RLCS finals after a loss to
Flipsid3 Tactics Flipside Tactics (stylized as FlipSid3 Tactics) was an esports organization based in the United States. Flipside had teams competing in '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', ''Halo'', ''Crossfire'', fighting games, ''StarCraft II'', '' iRacing'' ...
, finishing 5-6th. In the off-season, GarrettG was picked up from his former team ''Orbit'', replacing Sadjunior. This new roster achieved a 3rd-place finish in the RLCS Season 3 finals, losing out to the eventual champions in ''Northern Gaming''. After a disappointing last-place finish in the RLCS Season 4 Finals, NRG dropped mainstay and fan-favorite Jacob for rookie prodigy jstn. With jstn, NRG came one goal away from becoming the Rocket League world champions in Season 5. After going undefeated in both regular season and the first two days of the RLCS tournament, NRG met Dignitas in the Grand Finals. Dignitas reset the bracket with a 4–1 win in the first best-of-seven, which meant one final series would crown the champs. In Game 7, NRG trailed by one goal in the final moments, but jstn scored a last-second goal to send the game into overtime, where they ultimately lost. NRG would continue to dominate RLCS regional play in seasons 6 and 7, only to fall short of expectations at both finals. Several days after the end of Season 7, NRG legend Fireburner announced he was stepping away from competitive Rocket League. Nearly a month later, it was announced that three-time RLCS champion Turbopolsa, a member of the same Dignitas team that defeated NRG for the world title in season 5, would replace Fireburner, becoming the first player to make a cross-region move from Europe to North America. Months after Turbopolsa's move to North America, NRG Esports would finally go on to win the Rocket League World Championship series on December 15, 2019, beating Renault Vitality in a seven-game Grand Finals with jstn scoring the winning goal in overtime. They would then drop Turbopolsa in order to sign SquishyMuffinz, a player coming from the recently disbanded team Cloud9. With this roster, they went on to win RLCS X North American Championship, and lose in the Grand Finals of Fall Major RLCS 11 to Team BDS. They qualified for the Winter Major as the number 1 seed from NA,they went 1-2 in groups and were placed in the lower bracket against the eventual runner ups Team Queso, which they lost. NRG failed to qualify for the Spring Major, this was the first time NRG failed to qualify for an RLCS international LAN,but they qualified for the RLCS 2021-2022 Finals wildcard in
Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
. Although they failed to qualify for the Spring Major they still had enough points to qualify for the Main Event in Fort Worth. Following Version 1's loss against Moist Esports, NRG qualified for the Main Event in Fort Worth as the 3rd seed from North America.


Current roster


''Valorant''

On 8 October 2020, NRG entered the Valorant scene. Officially signing Damian "Daps" Steele, Sam "s0m" Oh, and coach Chet Singh. NRG never found huge success within the Valorant scene although consistently remaining as one of the top teams in North America. During the announcement of franchising, NRG let go of their entire roster, deciding to build with only Sam "s0m" Oh remaining from the old NRG core. Following the announcement, NRG signed the OpTic Gaming core of IGL Pujan "FNS" Mehta, Austin "crashies" Roberts, Victor "Victor" Wong. Their last roster change was the addition of Ardis "ardiis" Svarenieks, who previously had a highly successful 2022 run with the team FPX.


Current roster


Former divisions


''Counter-Strike: Global Offensive''

On 23 January 2016, NRG entered CS:GO with signing the ex-Method roster. 11 months later on 19 December, NRG completely changed their roster. On 27 July 2017, Peter "ptr" Gurney, who was the only player remaining from the original roster, left the team, replaced by Bulgarian Cvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov a month later. In March 2018, NRG won the iBUYPOWER Invitational Spring 2018, beating
Team Liquid Team Liquid is a multi-regional professional esports organization based in the Netherlands that was founded in 2000. With the release of '' StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty'', Team Liquid signed their first professional players. In 2012, Team Liq ...
. NRG's second victory came 5 months later in August 2018, after winning IEM Shangai 2018. NRG defeated
OpTic Gaming OpTic Gaming is an American professional esports and entertainment organization headquartered in Frisco, Texas. The organization currently operates a ''Call of Duty'' team in the Call of Duty League, OpTic Texas, they also operate a ''Overwatch' ...
to win cs_summit 3 in November 2018. On 28 February 2019, NRG signed former
Cloud9 Cloud9 Esports, Inc., or simply Cloud9 (C9), is an American professional esports company based in Santa Monica, California. The company was originally founded as a professional ''League of Legends'' team by Jack and Paullie Etienne in May 2013 ...
and
MiBR Made in Brazil (MIBR) is a professional esports organization with players competing in '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive,'' '' Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege'' and ''VALORANT''. It was a member of the G7 Teams. MIBR was founded on March 1, ...
member Tarık "tarik" Çelik to replace Jacob "FugLy" Medina. On 26 September 2019, the NRG roster was acquired by
Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses (EG) is an American esports organization based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1999, the organization has fielded players in various fighting games, ''Call of Duty'', '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', ''Dota 2'', ''Fortni ...
, ending the 4 year CS:GO campaign of the organization.


''Dragon Ball FighterZ''

NRG entered the Dragon Ball FighterZ scene in 2018 with the signing of Eduardo "HookGangGod" Deno. His first win under the NRG banner was at Summit of Power 2018 where he took down
SonicFox Dominique McLean, known professionally as SonicFox, is an American professional esports player of several fighting games. McLean is recognized for their versatility and ability to pick up a new game or character and master it for professional p ...
to take the title. Eduardo was also featured in his very own docuseries on
Sony Crackle Crackle, formerly called Grouper and Sony Crackle, is a free video streaming service supported by advertisements that was founded in 2004. The service was purchased by Sony Pictures in 2006 and renamed Crackle. In 2018 the name was changed to So ...
called "Hook'D". The 4-part series featured a cameo appearance from Shaquille O'Neal and debuted on July 27, 2018. NRG released HookGangGod on January 13, 2020.


''Smite''

On September 1, 2016, NRG acquired defending Smite World Champions team Panthera. The team joined the organization following a hugely successful first 12 months; qualifying for Worlds as European runners up before dropping just 2 games on their way to the title. They followed this up by going 24–4 in the Spring split to qualify for the Dreamhack Masters in June, dominating the tournament and going undefeated 8–0 to be crowned Champions. The team has most recently won the 2016-2017 Smite World Champions. On December 13, 2018, NRG officially ended their ''Smite'' division.


''Super Smash Bros.''

NRG signed New Jersey native Nairoby "Nairo" Quezada for their '' Super Smash Bros.'' division in August 2016. On July 2, 2020, NRG cut ties with Nairo after allegations that he had been engaged in a sexual relationship with a minor in April 2017, effectively ending the team's ''Super Smash Bros.'' division.


Table of championships


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* {{San Francisco Shock 2015 establishments in California Esports teams based in the United States Counter-Strike teams Gears of War teams Defunct and inactive Overwatch teams Super Smash Bros. player sponsors Smite (video game) teams Rocket League teams Venture capital-funded esports teams Former North American League of Legends Championship Series teams Valorant teams American Internet groups