Interview with Team Liquid Co-CEO

Team Liquid had a strong start into the MSI 2019 but then dropped a bit again. Co-CEO Steve Arhancet talks to The Shotcaller about the reasons for this change.

Steve Arhancet (37) is one of the owners and Co-CEO of the North American eSports organization Team Liquid. In an interview with The Shotcaller during the Mid-Season Invitational 2019 in Hanoi, he describes his impression of the current performance of the League-of-Legends team and various developments in the industry.

While Invictus Gaming, G2 Esports and SK Telecom T1 have already secured their tickets for the semi-finals, Team Liquid, representing the LCS, is still fighting for fourth place in the group stage.

What would you like to give to Team Liquid fans who are cheering from home?

“We had a strong start into the tournament, had two clear victories. After that, we weren’t quite true to ourselves. In the following games we tried to adapt our playing style to that of the most successful teams in the tournament. This has caused us to waver.

Then we asked ourselves: What brought us so far? For me, it was our own way of playing. Then we realized that we should just play as usual.

And if it doesn’t work? Sh** on it. Then it’s like that. We shouldn’t try to implement something in the competition that we didn’t train before. We should just be us.”

What is your personal opinion about the current movement to localize eSports more and more? We are seeing more and more teams opening local presences or even building arenas for 3,000 spectators like in Philadelphia.

“First and foremost, it will always be important for eSports fans to follow the action digitally. We don’t yet know what this experience will ultimately look like.

At the moment it’s Twitch, with chats in which viewers can exchange ideas. That was innovative and progressive at the time, but eight years ago. What is the next step in the development of the digital experience?

But there is also the possibility of organizing real events with a festival character. This also works well in certain local markets.

I don’t think it’s good for a team to say we only belong to this one city, but for broader organizations, there is the possibility to strengthen the position in certain markets on a local level.

Be it through tournaments, arenas, presences or arenas. We also want to do this is markets in which we feel comfortable.”