How i lost $1,000,000 starting an Esports team...
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 มิ.ย. 2023
- This is the tale of a man with a dream, and the ambition to spend his life savings into changing the fate of a dying industry.
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LOL, WE AL KNOW THE PLAYERS YALL PICKED SUCK, SO WE ALL KNOW YOU ARE GOING TO LOSE ALOT OF MONEY LMFAO😂
Hey Toast, serious question, how can we keep up with the things you are doing? You are the only person I watch and recently I keep finding out you have been doing interviews I had absolutely no idea about, which is mind boggling that I never heard about :O what other secret content is going on....!
@@angelamawie401 cap
Sent my support through patreon. Keep up the good work
Esports teams over the last 10 years have expanded their reach for sure. Since sc2 and the rapid growth of the industry with massive games like LoL and dota2 there was a influx of sponsors.. never once have i seen any team look at esports as a "sport" financially which is a HUGE problem. Sports clubs make money on ticket/box sales, merchandise, and tv revenue. There in lies the problem... Owners gathered together (in major sports) and forced TV to the table and were guarantied some part of the revenue.
Twitch and other streaming sites steal your content and braodcast it at no cost to them. at least in the eyes of the law, and if owners like you got together and tried bring them to the table they would be compelled (if not by anything else Major sports media/owners would push for them to sit at the table) cuse the last thing they want is precedent for free broadcasting.
which is exactly what this is. the owners of these teams like yourself are paying and putting together a professional product that accrues fans and watchers to the media you broadcast on. Just like MlB,NHL,NBA, or the NFL.
If i were you i would reach out to as many owners of other esports teams across America and discuss maybe sitting down with twitch and doing a "tv like" deal. Since you guys cannot get ticket sales or luxury box sales this is your only real source or revenue to keep esports alive. otherwise as you said it is a dying business.
Toast is pumping out content like he spent too much on an esports team and I'm here for it.
he won't get the money back by only making this video tho 😭😭
@@irissupercoolsy yeah that’s why they said pumping out content, bc it’s not just this video they’re talking about :’)
@@jaidenxyz1501 😂😂😂
Same. Here for it all.
He’s playing Amogus-like games again to make videos that get tons of views lol
Only Toast casually says he lost a million with a cheery voice, he truly needs a small loan of a million dollars
He doesn't need a loan if he doesn't earn anything 100%. He needs our blood, go patreon and give blood! 😂
"a small loan of a million dollars"
reminded me of someone 😂
@@garrydimasa1964 are you taking about the guy in China or US because the ending for these two are the exact opposite 😅
Loosing 1 million but not planning to stop the thing 🎉 i wish i could waste money like that 🎉
why do i see you in every comment section
The cool thing about him is that he’s just being genuine explaining the situation he and E-Sport orgs are facing, also that he’s not greedy noting the low profit of the plushy and the salary of the members.
I just wish he would have them make more of the plushies. Each time it has been for sale it sold out before I could even get to the website T_T
@@LudicrousRat Follow the OTV merch drops, they've done restocks of his plushy more frequently. The last OTV merch release they restocked the Toast plushy but it remained sold out on Toast's merch website.
When he first released the plushy years ago he was only making $1 off of each sale, with inflation it's probably now being sold at cost or at a loss unless they up the price.
We here for you Toast, besides the audience, you made a lot of pro players happy ✨
You did your part for your fellow players, and never forgot your roots. You tried to give back what League gave to you, and that's what's important. You did more than others would, and that's very admirable.
And when toast run out of money, they'll be barista at Starbuck
Kekw no he didnt
I rooted against DSG every game and was so happy they lost every game
Especially cuz yay is a fraud and is being exposed finally for being a chamber one-trick KEKW
Toast being humble, honest and helping people, it's incredible thinking that a single man can run a Team in better way then those massive organizations
There's a lot to be said about integrity. Once that is gone you just become a sad shell of a company. Toast is still humble and still has high integrity. That's why I admire him.
HUMBLE? lmao humble ISNT losing 1mil and expect people to pay that back because of his shitty choices.
HUMBLE would of been to donate to charity that needs it not some shitty esports team full of content creators that are ALREADY fucking rich.
The dude lost 1 million dollars, 0 profit. How can you claim that he runs the team better than large companies who are actually successful lol.
@@1bullneck1 because the organizations in NA that you think are success are becoming broke and thanks to them, the sponsors are leaving the ESports the thing it's what toast promise to the sponsor is somenthing real no dilusional things like your successful orgz said that before jajaja
I really want toast to succeed in this
Succeed how? Like be profitable or have successful team results? Or succeed in pulling back the curtain on the whole industry?
Toast is hard pressed to somehow succeed when EVERY e-sport team is losing money. He'll have to pull out eventually
The marketing strategy worked
@@julicor98 of being a popular streamer, sure. Although if this becomes bigger and he ends up spending more of his time on building up the esports organization, and less time streaming, my bet is he would gradually lose a good portion of the current "fanbase". (Putting fanbase in quotes because right now it's just his regular followers donating because he's trying something new, not because they are diehard fans invested in the team and players)
The same thing happened with Nadeshot and 100thieves. Like people almost forget he used to be a pro player and popular streamer before creating 100theives.
Toast is a very popular streamer but even with that, he is still losing money. Is it just that Esports has become too stale nowadays after Covid Lockdown ended (oh and not to mention, pro players are quite overpayed).
Faze clan, the biggest Esport org in the world is struggling, I kinda want to know how orgs like T1, Team Liquid, Cloud9 has been holding
Not sure how to describe Toast. He’s so real but seems far away at the same time. Like he genuinely wants his fans to be happy but at the same time needs to profit.
Not even profit, i'm pretty sure he would be totally fine with a breakeven. But that's far from the case it seems.
@@garrydimasa1964 yeah I mean he can’t really pick and choose at this point being -1,000,000 😂
I mean MrBeast does something similar there with his philanthropic work
@@ironboy3245 he also makes money off of his other businesses to make up for it
@@ironboy3245 Keep in mind that in the US (and many other countries), money spent on charity can be deducted in special ways from your taxes. Toast himself already made a video on how he wouldn't have been able to do some of his charity events if not for the fact that it basically costs him 0 to do so.
I don't say this to in any way remove any virtue from what Mr Beast is doing - far from it, I think it's amazing, and I even fully believe that Mr Beast goes beyond what his tax deductions would allow and goes into the negative for his charities.
Just mean to point out these are 2 different things. Toast can't just deduct this from his expenses as it is not charity work.
Love the candid and honest way that you discuss the space, hope the rest of your day is a delight. We love ya man.
Huge respect for doing this, enabling the players to follow their dreams, and trying to make the finances work. I always wondered howe some of these newer esports orgs (out of the past 10 years) managed to survive and am not surpised that in essence, they didn't. Long standing orgs Like Team Liquid seem to have their shit together a lot more, having survived through the "early days" in the 00's. Thats why i always support team Liquid, no matter what game i come across their teams. I never played much, or any really, LoL, but i am genuinely excited to see your ambitions with valorant succeed. I really hope things turn around for the mens team! for how much heart and soul you put into this undertaking it was heartbreaking to hear them drop out.
It's refreshing to see the inside things of an Esports with the Owner POV.
Thanks for this content sir. Good luck on your teams!
Toast: "these esports teams don't know how to market themselves"
Also Toast: "I've lost one million dollars in esports and my valorant team did so bad they got kicked out of their league. Invest in my team"
Literally. Toast is basically asking for donations.
Respect the honesty at least lol
he marketed well but he got absolutely destroyed by roster failure
But it worked cause uh, I might have to drop 5 bucks
@@Bruh-fk6gn same dude
Oh damn, thank you so much for all that insight and experience from this venture! There's really a lot of value and wisdom in you reflections of your mistakes and "overestimations". But the fact that you share what you have learned from it, is truly admirable and a best example you could possibly set in my opinion.
I had no idea the gaming industry was struggling so bad ! If I had money, I'd support you for just this video alone, love the honesty
I really respect the transparency and honest you are with this not many people got the guts to do that got my support 👍
I'm not really in a position to support but I really respect all you've done for DSG and the esports scene with your transparency and fresh mindset. Its a breath of fresh air and I hope to continue seeing DSG in esports
You've been an inspiration to me throughout this journey of DSG. Eventhough DSG valorant didn't work out, you didn't give up and continued to pursue what you believe in. That in itself is very impressive. I am confident DSG will succeed someday because they have an amazing owner and team
I think Watching Esports takes alot alot of time and is only for specific people.
I dont watch Esports live or Vods for time reason but love when people put out video showing their journey in à 20-30 minute video.
Also, making the players people is à very good way to cheer for them. I would love to see more video’s and more content of the players
And this is why after all this time we're still here. You keep it real and don't sugar-coat it.
I really hope it turns around and you can at least break even. It's been so fun watching the journey!
I think your editor picked a PERFECT example xD deserve a raise just for that!
Alright he shall get an additional toilet break a day without pay cut.
The guard content too loo
EG punching the air rn
I am a recent deeper level fan so I can really appreciate this transparency with not only the DSG behind the scenes but also with your main channel, like how you mentioned the toast plushy margins. That’s crazy, I’d like to imagine I would be the same with prioritizing high quality for my fans at the lowest cost possible if I were in the same position. I can really appreciate and respect that. It makes me feel that I made a good selection in venturing deeper into the toaster verse lol kudos
Sucks you're in the situation but amazing to see you're in a position to be on this situation. Congratulations on all your success and can't wait to watch your team in the future
I am really rooting for DSG. I love how Toast is all for the support of pro players and giving them opportunities.
It is actually really smart to put the balance sheet in front of Patreon supporters as it forms a sense of trust and people would like to know about how the money is spent in industry.
this video alone already has more views than some teams whole channels and videos for the year, I love your approach of transparency, I REALLY hope the best for your org and that you somehow can make it work 👍👍
A lot of respect for this transparency and love the approach taken on everything! Hoping that you find a way to sustain the org and compete!
What a well made video.
Very down to earth and transparent!
I like the Idea that DSG is kinda a community project to make NA esports profitable, and despite the current projections, I hope the meme magic pulls through. I will be watching to see where this goes.
always love the transparency with toast. i genuinely look forward to seeing dsg grow and prosper
Back in the day I loved watching the tsm vlog/videos for the first 1-4 seasons of league, I miss being able to get to know and relate with the players, like toast said a "relationship" of sorts. Esport Orgs nowadays trade players and change their teams so much that there really isnt a point in being loyal to a brand when they change players every year
Entering such a domain toast is a power move that earns you my respect. I will follow this team until they stop
I’m actually really happy toast is gonna make another run at Valorant
I love that you're documenting how ur gonna make this esports team work. I hope it works out! Please keep us updated
Toast is so admirable, he's working hard to save people's dreams, livelihoods, and esports content as a whole. Great job toast ❤.
Will always support DSG. 😊
I think that creators like toast are truly shining a light on the core issues of the esports industry and I love to see this clarity with your viewers. I truly wish you the best of luck in this endeavor, because whatever degree of success you have, you have tried to make the industry a better place
É, em quase todo lugar está esse preço. =(
I love the dsg valorant esport content. Big valorant and you fan so seeing them together is great. Hopefully next season they do better
it’s crazy how great Old TSM Legends episodes were or like the original season of 100t heist, excited to have dsg in the league scene, hopefully orgs can see how Toast acts towards content
One of the more popular league streamers said to make the players themselves be streamers. Making them have their own fan groups and identities can make the games more exciting and can really help.
Sadly riot doesn't allow that. We had a case in the German pro league scene where a team called NNO consisting out of 5 streamer including agurin (last season rank 1 euw) made it from second to first division with an amazing miracle run but riot didn't allow them to keep streaming while playing in the first division.
So they used their first division team slot and became team owners and recruited some players from the last team they beat to make it to the first division because their team disclosed.
If I messed up some sentences sorry in advance English isn't my first language :D
Im honestly interested to see how this will go
I like your approach and will help in the support when its possible for me. Hope the process happens as you described❤ and best of luck for both the teams.
This is baffling like…wow this may be the worst thing I’ve heard without watching the news. Thanks for sharing this it must have been hard to accept and confess. I can’t make promises about donating but I’ll definitely consider it, hopefully your (and their) dream can last a little longer
Would love to see them come back next year!
Gotta watch this video to help support this man with my $0.001 worth of ad revenue.
Did you skip the ads? If You did he ain’t even making that😂
@@Luluthecat-22 I got yt prem. He got nothing from me 😎 but I was in on the first wave of toast plushies
@@lobstercrostini Channels actually get a cut from yt premium! So you did still help him in some way :D
I love Toast and have great respect for him and what he’s doing with the esports scene ❤ Can’t wait to see more of Toasty team ❤️❤️
i'll keep in touch by seeing the challenger series man hope you guys all the best
If DSG has a million fans, then I am one of them. If DSG has ten fans, then I am one of them. If DSG has only one fan then that is me. If DSG has no fans, then that means I am no longer on earth. If the world is against DSG, then I am against the world.
If dsg shits in pants you clean em yay I cheer for you ❤❤❤
Strong words and Im with you!
Damn where did those lines come from? I remember Fauna’s Saplings using those lines too.
@@gingeral253
A Nijika (Bocchi The Rock) copypasta from... 4ch? I dont remember. Cant find the source but here's an ungodly long version:
Since Nijika is the paragon of human virtue without equal past or present, she is most resplendent in love, tributes and accolades. Waking or sleeping, I must not forget Nijika’s great boon and in order to return her favour by day and by night, I should only think of fulfilling my loyalty.
Who is Nijika?
For the blind, she is their vision. For the deaf, she is their music. For the mute, she is their voice. For the anosmiac, she is their aroma. For the numb, she is their feeling. For the atrophied, she is their muscle.
For the starved, she is their sustenance. For the thirsty, she is their water. For the exhausted, she is their energy.
For the depressed, she is their happiness. For the disillusioned, she is their hope. For the pessimistic, she is their optimism.
For the disadvantaged, she is their champion. For the marginalised, she is their justice. For the oppressed, she is their salvation.
For the righteous, she is their symbol. For the enlightened, she is their muse. For the erudite, she is their education.
If Nijika speaks, I listen. If Nijika questions, I answer. If Nijika orders, I obey.
If Nijika opines, I agree. If Nijika fears, I assure. If Nijika hopes, I dream.
If Nijika is happy, I am jubilant. If Nijika is angry, I am apoplectic. If Nijika is sad, I am disconsolate.
Nijika is my ideal, Nijika is my romance, Nijika is my passion.
Nijika is my strength, Nijika is my compass, Nijika is my destination.
Nijika is my language, Nijika is my culture, Nijika is my religion.
Nijika is my ocean, Nijika is my mountain, Nijika is my sky, Nijika is my air, Nijika is my sun, Nijika is my moon, Nijika is my world.
Nijika is history, Nijika is present, Nijika is future.
If Nijika has a million fans, I am one of them. If Nijika has a thousand fans, I am one of them. If Nijika has a hundred fans, I am one of them. If Nijika has ten fans, I am one of them. If Nijika has only one fan, that is me. If Nijika has no fans, I no longer exist.
If the whole universe is for Nijika, then I am for the whole universe. If the whole universe is against Nijika, then I am against the whole universe.
I will love, cherish, and protect Nijika until my very last breath; my successors will love, cherish and protect Nijika until their very last breath.
Bro copied a saying what jiyuu said in. A video ☠️
Here helping DSG recoup some costs. LETS GO DSG
Really appreciate what you are doing with DSG and for giving us the inside look to E-sports - and hopefully also boosting some love for NA teams and home-grown talent.
toast keep being such an awesome person. great informational video. love these updates.
I respect your integrity, your fans appreciate that about you ❤
Every time I watch toast, my respect and love for this man increases infinitely each day. Disguised toast the GOAT 🐐!! INSANE VIDEO. LOVED IT ❤🍞🐝🔥
used to only watch offlineTV but never really toast's channel. But hearing how he's doing his part to help the players stay employed.. i'm here for here. Subbbbbed
I have heard of toast before and saw his stream in the early team fight tactics yeah, and I have to say after not seeing is Contant in many years I am a huge fan of what he’s doing today. This was a very high-quality video. Thanks toast🎉
I think what you're doing is a great thing, trying to help these players that would otherwise be jobless, but at the same time, these millionaire salaries are just unrealistic unless you're a world champion player - it'd be an amazing dream to be paid to play league of legends, a game I already enjoy, but just enough to live, pay rent, buy groceries, just enough to be comfortable, should be the norm. Not these crazy salaries. Just enough to survive, yet still pursue your dream of becoming that millionaire pro - but a player needs to prove themselves to be on that level, to earn that - so you're doing a great thing here, but I think the whole eSports scene needs to be toned down a notch, and players shouldn't expect these 6 figure+ salaries on an entry level position (lower leagues, not LCS, LEC, etc). Average salary in the US for an average working adult is like, $30k-$70k annually, depending on state, and that's middle-ish class salary. And these are our teachers, laborers, etc. Necessary, every-day working people, with 'regular' jobs. eSports players is a luxury job, in my opinion. Yet they get paid more than our essential workers.
The whole things just a shit show in my opinion.
I think keeping lower leagues accessible to more potential pro-players running, and making their salaries lower, while allowing the player to grow and develop their skills and chase their dreams, should be the ideal goal in this.
If as an employer you want to have someone dedicate themself full time, you as the employer should be expected to pay a full time salary appropriate for the region they must be located to.
From the person who is taking on the job, it's not their fault if there is fierce competition between employers to get you to join their team. It's the employers who are mislead and overbid on the job market.
The problem is these esports careers really only last for like 10 years if your very lucky. If the salaries are just average than people would be better off going to college or working in a career that isn't so short
I have never once seen someone paid an obscene salary for a lower level position. Six figure salaries are rare even among top tier pro teams. I'm sure top valuations like faker in league and yay in his 3 month c9 stint and a few others make that much, but I'm willing to bet good money that most other kids in franchising haven't hit six figures. Maybe the OPTIC core and the LOUD core and the FNATIC core hit that level, but I doubt many other orgs have.
DSG's 500k a year number means that everyone on DSG is being paid less than 45k a year, which is enough to live a decent life with some budgeting, but not really much more than that.
We love you toast! 💛 love the transparency and I’m glad you’re shedding real light on how fucked the Esports industry is. Hopefully some change happens in the future
Love the transparency thing going on, and love the investment into the tier 2 scenes hopefully DSG make it back for Challengers next year
Icl, looking at the stick figure players definitely makes me feel like there could be animated stories to go along with them
As an accountant, I think the first time I pay for a patreon will be to see the financials cause that’s the most interesting incentive I’ve ever seen lol
Don’t try to catch a falling knife!!! Toast learns the hard way
That was a banger video. I got super invested into esports due to toast and i am lucky and proud to be part of this amazing community toast has created ❤❤
I can't be a patron, but I think what you a moist moguls are doing is fucking huge for the future health of esports. So I have subscribed and will be watching all your videos in their entirety. Hopefully you will eventually be able to leverage that monetarily via sponsors ect.
Give this man a small loan of $1,000,000
He will find another way to lose that 1 mil
Pô, eu tô ANSIOSÍSSIMO pro material chegar logo!
I see a bright future ahead of your Esports Team keep up the great work Toast!
Yea instead of negative money, hopefully it breaks even one day
thanks for letting us know, toast. very expensive, costly, and with barely any returns at all. hope it's at least a fun and learning experience for you, toast! wishing for the best for team dsg!
I mean I'm sure you knew an eSports team would be an endless money pit. But damn I'm sure glad you did it. It's been really fun to watch.
Sad truth about Esports in NA, we just don't have nearly as big a culture for it to foster attention, and we're already late to the party. The only teams that knocked out Korean teams in last year's Worlds tournament were other Korean teams.
salary and cost of living is also part of it. EG drop their Dota 2 roster to sign South American player because they are 75% cheaper (salary and rent building) and deliver same result in Major.
Toast sounds so happy while losing so much money.
Thats why he is the Goat
Smiling through the pain
Means he's in a stable enough position to take a loss for the sake of what he wants to do. Good for him.
Well good thing he is transparent with it.. Try doing a "make me a pro" series where you get some select patreons and have them train on a certain aspect of the game with the players.. It eats time but it could be a good plus to sign up to it..
I think a Patreon where the custom or private videos are a small coaching session or mentality breakdown a kind of play by play breakdown or example of what players were thinking or why they made decisions that they did to help more casual players understand what pros are thinking how they’re thinking it and how players can better elevate their play style themselves. That would be a really cool like private video service to subscribe to to better understand how to be more like a pro player.
Competition is tough. but I applaud Toast for taking that risk. Still cheering you on the sidelines. toastyL
$60 a year to support a guy trying to succeed in a failing industry while making personal sacrifices while his team does the same. Definitely an easy choice. Support DSG. Can't wait to see the big sponsers and your team win tournaments in the future.
*I am not trying to discount anyone who cant pledge the $5 to support DSG. Support comes in many ways. Like watching and liking videos.
i think coaching sessions uploaded to a patreon could be a good idea because then it would even bring people who not only want to support your org but also people who are willing to pay for just a service from reputable LoL players/coaches
Hosting the event is where it's at. You've hosted a few tournaments. Just got to slowly scale that up. Just hosting tournaments where winning teams get cash prizes, and even audiences could win a custom built PC, would get you sponsors from major manufacturers like EVGA, MSi, Corsair, etc. I'm speaking from experience helping host UCI eSport events years ago. We had Sneaky visit, Pokimane donated before, and we had a huge annual multi-day lan event with prizes from sponsors. We even let audience do a "Challenge the Pro" and winners got a GTX980. Mtn Dew provided tons of drinks too.
I'm glad to see you making this video because it's a warning for anyone looking to get into the industry.
even though team performed not ideally, the management from you is amazing. keep up the chin you got this.
the fact that u have this much money to venture.....is amazing given that u just a streamer playing games....looks like u are living the dream...
not that I am complaining, whatever works out in life for u and others, as long as it is not a crime, go ahead, life is interesting...
but reality for other people like me really seem sooo different...
Hope you know u are very blessed.
Thanks for sharing Ur ventures as well~
hope this wont stop u from making another valorant team in the future, because ur the only one keeping the scene alive
love u toast❤
I respect his honesty. That alone is worth $5.
It's worth a like on the video, dunno about the $5
While watching this video I had an idea on a possible way that you could make some money in esports. If its possible, could you not buy a section of seats for the live events, or make some kind of deal with the tournament organizers where you promise to sell a certain number of tickets at a slight upcharge, marketed as "reserved for DSG fans", and then provide some extra kind of benefit included. For example, mass producing pins or flags to provide for the people who bought the tickets through you.
ofc this would require cooperative tournament organizers, as well as making it to the big stage to have those tickets mean something, but just a thought.
In Brasil, where I'm from, a huge portion of a football's revenue is through paid subscription. We usually have ticket discount (they basically upped the main ticket price and made the subscription model the price it'd usually be), some plans get the yearly jerseys and other benefits. It's quite common, most households that enjoy football have them.
I know it's quite hard to get esports ticket discounts, but there must be a way... I think it's quite viable for people to support DSG, more so than bigger orgs, though it. Just finding the correct balance of reward X value.
Ofcourse it's going to be EG he's roasting 😂😂😂
This just goes to show how esports are mostly going to die as they are extremely unprofitable.
I wouldn't say they'll die they're more likely to have a cycle of periods where it's huge and professional with a lot of money flowing through it and other periods where it's predominantly held up by the community and the game's producer. With things like NA league and smash, especially, we are probably gonna see stuff similar to the beginning of these games becoming big, but with comparably better rules and cash flow due to a larger and more flesh out community.
There are many things that are theorized that explains why and imo its mostly because Franchising and practically NO CONTENT FOR FANS + Culture (at least for LCS), Franchising ruins/destroy story telling between teams there would be no relegation no "pressure" to improve every day no cravying or longing for winning because its almost a "safe job" (in LCS overpaid) so of course this would ruin league also those orgs (maybe except C9 and Fly but still its a stretch) dont have contact with its fans (apart from selling things $$$) this ruins the possible connection and feelings betweens both sides its not taht Esports is not profitable (csgo or fighting games etc esports) its just that they do it wrong (+ in western culture is not that "accepted" the esports career for the "kids" as in eastern culture) its a really interesting topic but we need to remember the "leaders" of those orgs are 40-50+ years old totally disconnected from the gaming community/culture so they only care about profit and short term revenue :/
Sorry if i misspelled something :3
To me, I expect it to die out quite a bit and have a bit of a 'dark age' while people figure out how to actually make it profitable.
Then, once someone really figures out how to make it happen, if they do, it'll see a huge resurgence.
I like how he was like, I might lose two million, he is dedicated to it and is willing to lose money for it. That was my favorite takeaway from the video. I am sure a man such as Mr. Toast will be able to get some smaller sponsors for his teams.
It was a good ride. Hope for more more teams
If you haven’t already, definitely reach out to Charlie and Ludwig. It’s a lot to do alone, they could probably offer some good advice on content creator owned orgs. Pulling for you toast! You’ll definitely figure out a way to make it work!
Yeah even for Lud and Charlie who's arguably a larger content creator, having an esport in first-rate game such Valo alone is a bit too much. Highly advise for Toast to look for co-owner, or don't have two first-tier game at the same time.
This video sounds more like you are trying to (and I apologise, I love you and your content, I mean no disrespect) amateurly handle things you are not qualified to do. it is better to pay the right person100k a year to do a much better job, than to try and be every role yourself, Toast. You have been a hugely famous and supported creator for years, how do you not have contacts already you can use for such things?
Have someone manage your merch, and it will very quickly pay for itself. You don't need RND, you're not making a new thing. You need good art and a reliable print shop that uses good quality clothes. This is not rocket science, you are making it harder by bearing the entire burden yourself, it seems.
Look at Ludwig's Moist Moguls. He has like 3 dozen employees, a large portion of which near exclusively work on facilitating his merch, events and other drops. With how long OTV has been a thing, you should have built up a huge rapport with a very reliable merch producer already, so it should take weeks to release new items, not a year, and only a few months to produce and ship them out.
QT's Streamer Awards had preorders and it only took 6 weeks to get my hoodie and colouring book, and both are good quality and I love them.
You could be running this like Linus Tech Tips by now. He has spent literally millions on RND for his various products he sells, and he is still very very successful and profitable. All of his merch and products are leagues above standard for quality. His underwear are legitimately the greatest underwear I've ever worn.
Was not expecting an analysis of the business aspect of this stuff but it was very interesting.
No matter how the DSG going in the esport industry, you have to admit toast is worth to have our respect.
Most of the esport player or stuff is not willing to talk about how bad is the situation in NA.
So in other words Toast spent $1,000,000 to learn that you need to do your research before you decide to fund your dreams.
So you invested in the Esports industry based off of surface-level information from already institutionalized Esports organizations and then when it all went to shit you blamed them for 'misleading' you? Why didn't you try to at least analyze the trend of the industry? To say "try first, you'll never know what will happen"? Seems to me that this is simply your own financial loss and that making this video altogether wasn't necessary. Yes, I understand that you want to make content and at the same time inform your audience of your decisions, but to drag down the Esports industry after solely losing money in a region where Esports itself has been mediocre? sorry, not all regions are suffering as much as North America or others; look at Europe.
Good luck toast! It takes serious guts to start and continue a sucessful company!
you mean it takes serious guts to start a company in something that you know won’t be successful
A good way to prove that your team can prove themselves to sponsors is by a dsg or deguised youtube channel with clips of funny or entertaining moments. if that gets traction surely normal youtube sponsors will come around and then esports sponsors might come aswell. I wish you so much good luck this is such a cool thing you are doing and I hope for all the best to you and all the people who make dsg possible.
If you are going to do patreon, an option i think would be popular would be letting people pick a player to get gameplay critique/demo review from.
toast I love you, I've been a fan for a few years now, wow it's really been over 4 years, I really hope you succeed in whatever you do, however please do try and make sure you don't end up in a bad situation yourself. currently not in a position to be able to directly support you so I wish you all the luck I can give out at the moment, make sure to take care of yourself and I hope you've found/ find a way to work everything out
I work with Zeyzals mom I am very excited to see where this team can go and wish nothing but the best for this organization
Toast, this may be out of topic, but I am wondering when is the next Duck duck goose lobby? I've literally watched all of the pov of otv and friends. I need moreeee!
4:40 Editor absolutely killed it with the example
I want to see patreon content on actually improving the game and stuff. Like a course or class for getting better at specific games
To be honest there are things to consider.
Like for example during my own esports ventures through South East Asia and observing esports internationally it comes down to the revenue streams and how to create a fandom. Stars, playmakers, and game changers make more through their characteristics which would lead to bigger things for the organization. There is a balance to this, but you could see during the earlier days of LCS of Iamqtiepie, Dyrus, Doublelift they would have their own fandom.
Humanizing players is a challenge but if another prodigy like Faker could come out of the North American LCS, then it would be a huge win. Also how to support in character development of the player is also another quintessential matter to uphold.
Hope this food for thought may spark up some ideas, as an avid esports talent (currently working behind the scenes) in SEA, I’m so happy that one of my favorite content creators since seeing the growth from Hearthstone to now supporting the industry to keep growing. ❤
He did this one right! I very much appreciate just straight forward information instead of beating around the bush