FORGE are Zack and Jan: friends, former work colleagues and dwarven enthusiasts. In this podcast they discuss recent hot topics, events and business of the esports industry. They also interview guests. Join them now to get one of the most exclusive glimpses behind the scenes of the esports industry.
Brace yourselves. Two world championships are coming. The International 2023 is around the corner and the Worlds Playin stage already started. This year however, both tournaments feature a slightly different format compared to the years before. We'll talk about the format and do some predictions.
4 Oct 2023
E17 - Sponsorships in the cold esports winter
On another solo episode, Jan is diving into esports sponsorships and the two main reasons why we have not seen big sponsorship announcements in the esports industry in a while: restrictions and the economic situation. Some insights into what organizations and brands have to keep in mind when forming a partnership.
28 Sept 2023
E16 - The return of the Forgedi: LEC Salary Cap & Valorant Drama
After some downtime due to our personal circumstances, Forge is back this week with another episode. Unfortunately Zack is unavailable, but Jan still wanted to talk about the news of the brand new LEC salary cap and recent Valorant Contract Drama surrounding the world championship roster of EG.
6 Sept 2023
E15 - The VCT drama that requires a Ben Affleck movie adaptation
Although a week too late, we're spending time this week to talk about the latest Valorant drama involving professional esports team The Guard. What happened, how did Riot solve the issue and the stance on the Tier 2 scene in general gives us a good topic for conversation. All that and more on this week's episode of FORGE.
30 Aug 2023
E14 - VCT Champions: where Elon Musk buys children
This week, we recap VCT Champions and talk more about other recent news and results. Zack is back to join the show
23 Aug 2023
E13 - Recent Results & Guild entering CS
Zack is not here this time. Jan is going into recent results of the major ongoing esports competitions and looks into recent news in regards to Counter-Strike and creator owned teams.
16 Aug 2023
E12 - Current Event Roundup
In today's episode of FORGE, Zack and Jan talk about the current ongoing tournaments and their predictions who will take it all.
9 Aug 2023
E11 - The great counter-strike reset
We're back with an episode to focus on counter-strike. Recent news from Valve will impact the business of tournament organizers, teams and players. We'll dive into the news and discuss our reactions to it. Is counter-strike and esports seeing a great reset? All that and more on this week's episode of FORGE.
2 Aug 2023
E10 - The decline and fall of the LEC viewership
The LEC is slowing down and reportedly less viewers are watching League of Legends on a weekly basis. Peak viewership for the finals are reduced by more than 50% compared to last year. Is the format to blame? Are new games more interesting for viewers to watch? All that and more on this week's episode of FORGE.
26 Jul 2023
E09 - LCK Salary Cap & Overwatch League doom
We talked about salary caps last week, but today we expand on the news coming from the LCK about a potential salary cap introduction after the 2023 season. We dive deeper into the pros and cons of the LCK salary cap and talk about the elephant in the room: Overwatch League. Will team owners vote to discontinue in OWL? Why did the league never gain big popularity and was OWL doomed from the start? All that and more, in this week's episode of FORGE.
19 Jul 2023
E08 - About player associations and salary caps
Just as we're hitting the record button this week, the Rocket League Player Association is announced. We share our initial thoughts and continue to discuss the rumors about League of Legends ERL format changes and potential salary cap introductions. All this and more on this week's episode of Forge.
12 Jul 2023
E07 - Regional Dominance and why EU>NA
Summer is upon us and we're soon entering the time of the year where we have one world championship after another. The Dota Bali Major just finished and all EU teams finished in the Top4. Why is Europe so good at PC Games? Why are console games so popular in NA? Where do we find the best mobile esports players? And what impact does this regional dominance have on spots at the different world championships? All that and more on this week's episode of Forge.
5 Jul 2023
E06 - Why you should diversify your esports brand and start a cult
This week on Forge podcast, we talk about diversification. Sparked with an article about content creators being a great asset to change sponsorships conversations for teams, we discuss other attempts of diversification for teams and why they should aspire to be a cult. Sounds weird? Yes, but otherwise it would not be as fun. Join us for all that and more on this week's episode of Forge.
28 Jun 2023
E05 - Kick vs Twitch, VCT Masters & CS Rostermania
Kick vs Twitch goes into the next round. Before we go into the in-depth conversation about the upcoming streaming wars, we talk about the VCT Masters Event in Tokyo and the roster shuffles we see all around the CS:GO scene. Is everyone preparing for CS2?
All that and more on this week's episode of Forge
21 Jun 2023
E04 - Content Creators owning esports teams
In this week's episode of Forge, Zack and Jan discuss esports teams being owned by content creators, such as the teams owned by DisguisedToast and MoistCr1TiKaL. They recently revealed how much they are looking to spend for their teams and we're looking at how esport teams are making money and if more orgs should be owned by content creators. We also talk about the starting Twitch vs Kick discussion. Join us, for a long episode of Forge, where we're diving deep into the business of esports.
14 Jun 2023
E03 - With great power...
The podcast is back! News of the player walkout and negotiation results between LCSPA and Riot have reached us, so we're sitting down this week to discuss one question: Who holds the power in the triangle of tournament organizers, teams and players? What is happening in other games? Is Valve really pushing to BLAST and ESL to abandon their partnered leagues? All that and more, on this week's episode of FORGE.
14 Apr 2023
E02 - Do you franchise?
This is the second episode of Forge, where we talk about the esports industry. In today's episode we're talking about franchising in esports. Why do game developers decide to franchise their leagues and why is it so attractive to participate in franchised leagues for players and organizations.
27 Feb 2023
E01 - Talking Formats
Welcome to the first episode of Forge, where we talk about the esports industry. In today's episode we're talking about VCT Lock:in, The International, the LEC and other big esports events as well as their formats. Which tournament formats are great and which are just not good enough.
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