Ludwig announced yesterday that he is joining MoistCr1TiKaL’s Moist Esports gaming organization as a co-owner, and while most esports investments tend to be viewed as a vehicle for losing money, the content creator believes he can leverage his unique position to keep that from happening.
In a post to his Mogul Mail YouTube channel made last night, Ludwig discussed his decision to join Moist despite being critical of the profitability of esports organizations in the past.
Last week, he detailed a few ways that an esports organization can turn a profit when responding to a post by Disguised Toast, who recently started a VALORANT team, and it appears as though Lud is looking to walk the walk after talking the talk.
“There’s two real reasons why I did this,” he said. “One, I like esports. I know I talk shit on it all the time, but my ideal Sunday is sitting down, having football on one monitor, esports on the other monitor, and chess on my main monitor… But two, I also believe in Charlie, MoistCr1TiKaL… an opportunity to work with him, even if it requires burning a lot of money, I think is an opportunity worth taking.”
As content creators first, Ludwig believes he and Charlie are in an especially advantageous position as esports owners. Though other organizations have tried to approach esports with business models more akin to traditional sports, the nature of gaming hasn’t necessarily allowed that strategy to be successful.
But as content creators first, Ludwig thinks he can reshape the way that brands and venture capital groups approach him and Moist Esports.
“In this space where every single venture capitalist group freaks out, gushes, and cums their pants at the term ‘creator economy,’ we have a lot of leverage,” he said. “Esports tournaments, the amount of money they make, pales in comparison to the amount of money your favorite streamer will make for the same exact deal and probably less viewership.”
Meanwhile, Ludwig deflected one of the common criticisms of esports organizations being a money sink. While he conceded that many esports can be expensive to get involved in, there are many ways to get into esports that aren’t nearly as much of a burden on the wallet of investors.
“The cost of being in esports isn’t actually that bad,” he said. “That’s usually only for the tier one esports. If you sign a Smash player, they don’t cost that much.”
Moist has active rosters in a handful of games, but none of them are nearly as expensive as Overwatch, VALORANT, or League of Legends. Moist competes in games where players don’t cost nearly as much to acquire, like Rocket League, Super Smash Bros., and Apex Legends.
It’s unclear exactly what sort of mogul moves Ludwig might bring to Moist Esports. He didn’t spill the beans on any upcoming projects or new teams that might come to Moist, but given his ability to execute grandiose ideas, Ludwig very may have something in store for the 17-month-old esports org.
