What would you like to see in the future of eSports?
More professionalism is always welcome. We were very lucky with our players, but we’ ve made some different experiences as well. I’ d like to see players develop a sense of loyalty towards the clubs that they’ re signing for, and that they don’ t leave the second they get a better contract on the table.
In terms of money, to have a set minimum for salaries is a must of course, players train and work very hard, so they should be paid accordingly. It’ s more of a question of whether we should eventually put a limit on it. If money is your biggest concern for your eSport career, you should play for TSM and not UOL anyway.
Isn’ t the fact that you constantly have to replace your players a bit annoying by now?
It’ s no secret that it’ s easier to buy a player off of us rather than Fnatic. It’ s annoying, but that’ s just something you have to accept in life in general. But I think that people have started to realise that UOL is a team that consistently gets the best out of talented players. Signing for a better team doesn’ t guarantee success. and it’ s not necessarily the team with the biggest budget wins the League. Splyce is a recent example of this as well. And if someone would’ ve asked me where Fnatic and Giants would end up at the end of the season, I would’ ve swapped their places in an instant. A lot of players have started to realise this as well. I don’ t think PowerOfEvil is a bad player, he just doesn’ t fit well with Origen. If he would’ ve stayed with us, I think he would’ ve grown a lot more as a player.
What kind of image would you like Unicorns of Love to portray as a club?
We’ re a family business, and we like to make our players feel like they’ re part of the family too. We try to visit the team in Berlin as often as we can. Everyone is very close with one another. So if a player leaves, that can really hurt. PowerOfEvil for example was such a nice guy to have around, and it hurts to see all the hate he gets on reddit and other social media. He’ s a fantastic player, he just doesn’ t suit Origen very well. Just because he left us doesn’ t mean we stop liking him.
What do you think of Social Media’ s role? Has it turned for the worst?
Obviously as a team owner you’ re scared that the hate could heavily impact a player. Players themselves know when they’ re making a mistake, so a lot of the stuff said online is pointless or plain mean. So instead of focusing on what Social Media has to say, we try to analyse mistakes, look at the progress a player has made and move on to the next fight. Sometimes you’ re got to accept that things aren’ t running perfectly, it’ s a calculated risk you have to take. When a player makes mistakes, we tell him“ Listen, the most important thing is what we think of you. We’ ll always believe in you. Always!”
Should eSports be considered a sport in Europe as well?
I’ m not too sure. I think that sports in general is tracking away further and further from the competition and is all about entertainment nowadays. Looking at Olympia, I’ m watching Wrestling, for three minutes nothing’ s happening, so I switch to a different sport because that one is more entertaining. I don’ t think it’ s necessary to accept it as a sport, when you could just fill a bunch of legal gaps instead. At the moment, it’ s in some sort of limbo, with problems like Visa issues. All modern sports are about getting a sponsor in front of the camera. eSports has that as well. The only issue is that you can’ t have a break in the middle of a game for advertisements. If you look at American sports, there are always ad breaks in between.
Have you received any offers for Unicorns of Love?
There were a couple of investors interested in buying up Unicorns. But we didn’ t sell. We’ ll never sell. We’ ll stay within the scene and try to shake it up as much as possible!
Thank you very much for the interview!
You can find Jos Mallant on Twitter at @ UOLDad