Hello, with the conclusion of PoLANd behind us, I thought this would be a fitting time to make a public post about the conclusion of Witness Gaming as an organization and Witness Gaming EU as a team. It's pretty crazy to me that I've been running this project for almost 6 years! What originally started as an outlet for me to be more involved with the community and directly support upcoming Invite talent in America turned and molded itself into what I would consider a recognizable cornerstone "brand" for excellence and success in competitive Team Fortress 2 across multiple regions! For those unfamiliar with some early lore, I had previously supported a few teams in ESEA with no brand or goal in mind. I enjoyed seeing teams compete and play their best without worrying about paying a league fee for those who couldn't pay or needed assistance.
As we transitioned from ESEA into RGL, "Witness Gaming" itself actually started with a push from Donovin, mostly as a joke to put my name on the project.
Its always pretty funny to me and makes me laugh that some newer players to our community don't realize that the "Witness" part of wG is actually a real person. The branding was absolutely comical for a "bedroom esports org," but the intention was always heartfelt and driven. I initially wanted to support newer invite teams with what they needed to succeed and sustain playing in Invite. I think around 2021 with the ash/laz/yight/branslam/artist/lolguy roster is when I really wanted Witness Gaming to take a more serious 'archetypal' role in the competitive community. I saw it as a way to provide spectators with a recognizable brand (think Ascent, FROYO, Seven, etc) and support top-level TF2 players for bigger upcoming events, specifically LANS. Covering as much of the cost of airbnbs, travel, Uber, food, and just helping coordinate as much as I could so my players had the ability to focus just on the game and provide others with the opportunity to travel and enjoy their hobby was my goal.
Ma3laa and Ascent were a HUGE part of the inspiration for the wG project, and I always spent my time with Witness Gaming hoping to meet and exceed what Ascent provided for this community. I also really did want to try to provide that for other regions. The decision to stop is difficult. To me, I want Witness Gaming to be associated with excellence and "best". That's from top to bottom. When people see “wG” i want them to think “best”.
As time goes on and I get older and more adult responsibilities are added, I realize I can't really contribute resources and focus on the game at a standard I would find appropriate as the manager of the organization. Community funding helps and is greatly appreciated; however, my view is that if I don't feel like “I” cannot provide a standard of quality support, attention, and love towards anything related to Witness Gaming, it needs to stop and not drag. I would feel worse knowing that I'm not as fully invested in wG as those who are eager and wearing the tag or those in the community who love supporting Witness Gaming as a team.
The decision to cease Witness Gaming EU is just as hard. I genuinely could not think of a better, more shining example of who I'd want to represent my vision for excellence and success in this community. The team was formed in various iterations before settling on the core we know today as the next step in the high-level European dynasty chain. We wanted to win an international LAN, we wanted to contest the best the world could offer, and we wanted to make Europe proud. Like me, the core of wG EU is getting older. More and more responsibility outside of the game makes the prospect of leaving the continent for international competition difficult to justify. Even trying to get time off from work for the domestic competitions eventually reached a point where we considered being completely done after Denver. This would have been the case but things changed after hearing Froyo was planning to compete in Poland.
I made up my mind after Denver to cease wG and after a conversation with this group, that I would want the Witness Gaming brand to die with them. This EU team had worked incredibly hard for so long and through so many weird logistical speedbumps with changing rosters, burnout, awkward LAN scheduling, and other things to get where they are today representing my silly bedroom org and staying dedicated to their own goals as individuals and teammates.
I'm extremely proud of toemas, lukas, ixy, papi, hugo, silentes, domo, and auto for allowing me to work so closely with them and their trust in me as "Mr CEO". Again, I really couldn’t pick a better group of players and people who put so much of themselves into their goals and results. The tenacity and way they approached competition was super inspiring and I felt incredibly humbled to see and take in their successes alongside them.
I would like to take some time to thank everyone who has played under the wG banner, in any region. Can’t stress enough how cool it was that I had the opportunity to help Australia get representation in one of the largest, stacked, and prestigious intercontinental LANs in TF2 history. Cooki, silvo, down, conor, enrith, and lau, thank you all so much! Ill be down there someday soon!
I would also like to thank wG HL for being respectful and outgoing with the Witness Gaming standard in Highlander. More reach as a brand is always nice, but I genuinely have always been somewhat scared of attaching my brand, my name, when I didn’t really know the people or their intentions. wG HL is my favorite example of great people providing great results for an amazing community. I will support wG HL for this and their next season out of respect of their own goals. This is extended to wG XIAO as well.
I would like to thank everyone in this community who has ever donated, cheered, and supported Witness Gaming. Seeing and feeling your support and love really drove me to be better and want to provide as much of my love as possible into this project.
There is a cool video documentary project being made! The footage is still being collected and edited but I think the end product will be amazing!
Finally, I would like to thank anyone who has worn the wG tag. You are all a select few whom I trusted to carry my name and idea. Witness Gaming would be possible without the Gaming part of it!
Thanks!