Gaming
With roster-change rumours swirling, we chat to NiP boss Hicham Chahine about his new Dota squad.
When syndereN and co left Escape Gaming at the start of the year, few expected them to eventually end up as the new Ninjas in Pyjamas Dota 2 team. NiP’s last venture into the world of Dota hadn’t exactly gone well, as the team failed to make it to The International or any of the Majors. When they dropped the team they showed no sign of wanting to enter back into the scene quickly and many thought the name NiP would never be seen in those parts again.
But on January 25, NiP made the announcement that they were back in Dota and were welcoming back Era, who played for their first Dota roster, and the rest of his new team. With veterans in every position, hopes for the team are high and, while they haven't quite rocketed to the top of the rankings, they're looking solid.
The acquisition was a curious one on paper, but one that got a lot of people excited. NiP have one of the largest fan bases in all of eSports and, while they have traditionally stuck to CS:GO, the NiP name is one with wide recognition.
With expectations high for the coming months, we caught up with NiP CEO Hicham Chahine to find out why NiP decided to return to Dotaand what they hope to achieve with this new team.
You guys tried Dota before, and it went OK, but you didn’t exactly set the world alight. Why did NiP leave the scene in the first place?
I think that Dota was at a stage where it was kind of just falling apart because the space was oversaturated. It was less attractive for organisations to invest in because it wasn't predictable and it was hard to do it as well, as it was not very sustainable in terms of players, with roster shuffles every third month.
So why come back now? What's changed to make you want to return?
For us with the Major system coming into place, you have a TI around it, you have more sustainability in the space. With efforts from teams being focused around that, the competitive nature and spirit, and the viewership getting back on track we felt it was an attractive point. We're in a position where we have Counter-Strike, we have Overwatch, teams functioning extremely well and we want to expand to a MOBA. And then, well let me put it this way. Do I believe League of Legends will be around five years from now? I do not believe that. From a fundamental perspective. You can see that from viewership. For League I remember when it had 250,000 viewers per game. Where is that now?
Do I believe League of Legends will be around five years from now? I do not believe that
So for us it's more attractive to be in Dota just because we have the flexibility. We don't have Riot hanging over us, we can use the players for what we want to use the players for, we can create the content if we want to create the content at any time. So we're not restrained and we have much more breathing room and space to experiment and do what we do best as an organisation. Will you see us in League of Legends? Maybe, but there needs to be some change for us to be present in League of Legends.
With this roster do you think you can go on and win The International this year? Surely that must be the ultimate goal for you guys, eventually at least?
This is a much longer term goal. As I said, you need to start somewhere. Getting into a title, you need to be able to build a reputation to attract players and you need to invest. For us we wanted to go in a little bit lower so we get familiar with the space, we build up the operations and then you can scale it from there. We didn't jump in to pick up a team and win The International – that's not how we work. I don't think that's very realistic in any title right now unless you buy, like SK Gaming did with the Luminosity line up in Counter-Strike. But we don't come from there, because it took SK almost half a year to get their operations and everything functioning around the team.
That's not the approach you want to take. If you see our fan base, one of the largest fan bases in the world, that was built up on legacy, engagement, interaction and content, and we're not just going to pick up a team and not provide fans with experiences around them.
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