LGD Gaming enters "intermission period" amidst rumours of bankruptcy

LGD Gaming, one of the most famous and well-established esports brands in the world has recently announced that they will be stepping down from the Dota 2 Elite Legue due to the “poor recent performance”.

It should be no surprise to anyone that a powerhouse such as LGD Gaming has set their sights on the highest possible achievements. However, looking back on 2023 and 2024 performance, no one can argue that these expectations were far from reality. So far, in 2024 LGD Gaming has not managed to secure any top results and lost both PGL Wallachia Season 1 and DreamLeague Season 23 closed qualifiers to Invictus Gaming. The highlight of 2023 for LGD Gaming was when it secured a top three spot in the International 2023, losing 0:2 to Gaimin Gladiators. The last time LGD managed to secure the top spot was back in 2022 during the Riyadh Masters, winning by 2:0 against Team Spirit.

Based on these results, nobody should be shocked to see the recent twitter announcement from LGD Gaming, stating they will be “temporarily entering an intermission period”.

However, what’s more interesting is the YouTube video that has been posted by Dota Lin Official, who managed to pull a number of clips from ex-LGD Gaming players, such as Wang “Ame” Chunyu, Yang “Chalice” Sheny and Lin “planet” Hao, discussing the financial difficulties that the organisation had faced over the last couple of years. Which not surprisingly ties in closely with poor team performances during tournaments. Full video can be found here

LGD Gaming received an initial invitation to the Dota 2 Elite League, where the overall prize pool is $960,000 and due to start on March 31st. Whilst a single tournament would not make much difference to LGDs overall financial position, there is little doubt had they failed to qualify for any other events it would have been extremely detrimental to their finances. Therefore, we can only guess how long LGD Gaming’s “intermission period” will last, whether it means a complete team disband, or when and if they will manage to overcome their financial difficulties. There’s no doubt it will be a very sad day globally for the Chinese and Dota 2 scene should they lose such a well-known juggernaut brand as LGD Gaming.