Echo Fox is pulling out of two shooter esports titles, Call of Duty and Gears of War, the organization announced on Twitter earlier today. Echo Fox has also released its League of Legends coach and several FGC players in what the organization characterized as a “strategic effort” to improve its position in esports.
While EF struggled to find its footing in CoD, evident by less-than-impressive performances throughout the WWII season, its Gears team was one of the best in the world.
Echo Fox had arguably the best FGC division of any organization, too. But the team will have three fewer players after the releases of Street Fighter V star Victor “Punk” Woodley and Injustice 2 pros Jivan “Theo” Karapetian and Brad “Scar” Vaughn. Punk quickly rose to stardom in the FGC community after a series of title-winning performances and a second-place finish at last year’s Evo.
The League team’s head coach, Thomas “Thinkcard” Slotkin, was also a part of the organization changes, Thinkcard confirmed in a tweet Tuesday afternoon. Before joining Echo Fox in December, Thinkcard served as the coach of Cloud9 and FlyQuest.
“These moves will allow us to focus our time and resources on the continued development of the remaining rosters, ensuring that we can deliver on the expectations of our fans, our players and the rest of the Echo Fox family,” said Jared Jeffries, EF’s president. “Echo Fox remains dedicated to the growth and development of our players as professionals and individuals.”
While its NA LCS roster seems to have gone untouched for now, Echo Fox’s “organizational realignment” comes at an odd time considering fellow LCS team OpTic Gaming’s recent moves. OpTic, who parted ways with League general manager Romain Bigeard on Monday, has been the subject of rumors that it is experiencing financial problems.
While EF did not hint at any issues financially in its Twitter statement, it appears the organization has narrowed its focus on select esports titles for now.
