Twitch signs CS:GO talent

9-4-2015 10:50

Videogame streaming platform Twitch has announced that it has hired five high-profile CS:GO figures to boost its presence in the scene.

Twitch has moved to ride the wave of momentum CS:GO is currently enjoying by creating a team that will be responsible for ensuring that the game continues its upward trajectory on the streaming platform.

Joining Twitch are retired player Robin "⁠Fifflaren⁠" Johansson, former Cloud9 member Spencer "⁠Hiko⁠" Martin and fragbite director Pontus Eskilsson. The trio will be working with the CS:GO communities in Europe and North America to increase the game's presence on Twitch.

Fifflaren signs for Twitch

Fifflaren and Hiko will be making their first appearance for Twitch at the upcoming ESEA finals, in Dallas, from April 17-19. Eskilsson, on the other hand, will be relocating to the company's London office in May.

Meanwhile, Twitch has revealed that RoomonFire duo Anders Blume and Auguste "Semmler" Massonnat have signed exclusive deals with the company.

"Robin, Spencer, and Pontus know the scene like no other, and they’ll be available to the community to ensure we are best serving our viewers and partners," Twitch Regional Director Stuart "TosspoT" Saw said.

"At the start of the year we signed Anders and Semmler exclusively to Twitch to give them the stability to fully develop their business.

"Looking forward, we’ll continue exploring the right opportunities to fulfill everything the CS:GO community desires."

Twitch's CS:GO section will consist of:

Robin "⁠Fifflaren⁠" Johansson
Spencer "⁠Hiko⁠" Martin
Pontus Eskilsson
Anders Blume
Auguste "Semmler" Massonnat

This is the latest in a series of agreements made by Twitch concerning CS:GO, which was the third-most watched game on the platform in January 2015, behind League of Legends and Dota 2.

Last month, Twitch agreed an experimental partnership with PGL in a bid to increase the prize fund of the CS:GO Championship (CCS) Kick-off Season. Earlier in the week, Twitch and ESEA reached an agreement on an extensive partnership.

what

2015-04-09 11:49

8 replies

We are potentially looking at a major weekly tournament like we see in LoL with LCS.

2015-04-09 13:19

7 replies

Please no.

2015-04-09 14:13

2 replies

Fiffy <3<3

2015-04-09 20:28

1 reply

Room on Fire, baby!

2015-04-09 21:59

damn, rip skins

2015-04-09 15:00

indeed

2015-04-09 15:06

But LoL sucks

2015-04-09 16:14

Oh fuck that. It's already almost too much to watch.

2015-04-09 17:00

wat

I bet thorin is mad :D coz they didn't invited him ::DDD hahahaa rip in pieces ginger

2015-04-09 15:13

rip in pieces haha he is huge gingar boy xxddxdxxddxdx i hate cuz i anus lolxz

2015-04-09 15:40

invite*

2015-04-09 16:30

rip my English :( ty

2015-04-09 17:11

Thorin does nothing with twitch, he doesn't stream, he doesn't cast matches, he analyses, that's why he usues youtube and appears on ANALYST desks at major tournaments. There is no reason to invite him. Please think before you speak.

2015-04-09 16:49

im pretty sure fifflaren is an analyst too

2015-04-09 17:19

Pretty sure he also casts and used to PLAY THE GAME!

2015-04-09 18:35

He should be mad because? The guy hasn't streamed once so shut your mouth.

2015-04-09 17:34

best ones lets gooo

2015-04-09 11:50

wow

wot fiffi again top team

FIFFY <3

So when is their first match

Omg fiffy!!!

fiffy<3

Wait so are they like some sort of twitch staff now or ? ..

2015-04-09 11:51

9 replies

2015-04-09 12:03

Yes

2015-04-09 13:02

6 replies

maybe

2015-04-09 15:29

5 replies

probably

2015-04-09 16:13

4 replies

most likely

2015-04-09 16:56

3 replies

very likely

2015-04-09 19:00

Its assified

2015-04-10 10:47

Unlikely

2015-04-10 14:37

yes and no, it seems that RoF is mainly "tied" to streaming on twitch.

2015-04-09 15:30

wtf whats happening

all i gotta say is Kappa

2nd that

2015-04-09 12:32

PogChampp

2015-04-09 11:52

nice!

this is nice!

lol nice

fiffy! also a good forward step

what na ?! :D

Fiffyyyyyyyyy <3

2015-04-09 11:53

Hiko lol Bad suits and hats in formal setting incoming

2015-04-09 11:54

ayy lmao

2015-04-09 12:22

yup, that cap ruined all his effort to look formal, why you're are trying to hide that thinning hair when everybody knows you have it, I don't get it

Why do you hair your dick when everybody knows you got it?

2015-04-09 13:50

you spiek very gud england

2015-04-09 13:54

26 hrs no sleep instead of hide i wrote hair :DD unless you are referring to you have one instead of you got it. debatable

2015-04-09 14:01

its TM for Hiko, hes got to wear the taylormade

2015-04-09 14:12

I crie everytiem

2015-04-09 15:37

Fiffy <3

wtf semmler USA??

Hes Merican

Good for fiffy

2015-04-09 11:55

p0ntus <3

what is this shit? promoters?

2015-04-09 11:57

coincidentally, 5 guys hired. NEW TWITCH.CSGO DREAMTEAM INCOMING?

hiko ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THEY'RE A SITE NOT B. INHUMAN FUCK UP

2015-04-09 15:42

fiffy <33

2015-04-09 11:58

pls! Comeback!

2015-04-09 11:59

New NA team confirmed. kappa

gj, gl to all. Fiffy HLTV miss u ;_;

Hiko are you kidding me?!

2015-04-09 12:00

FIFFYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Pontus eSKILson Skill in e-sport confirmed, we hire him

2015-04-09 12:02

RIP Hiko [*]

rolling in money these casters

2015-04-09 12:04

TosspoT - Twitch Regional Director lol

2015-04-09 12:05

10 replies

yeah lol, some thing new each day.

2015-04-09 12:07

that's nothing new to me lol

Well, TosspoT used to be a director at own3d before it went under. He has the experience. I'm kinda worried that this is becoming some sort of closed circle. Some sort of streaming mafia. They're all friends among themselves, they've casted events before and spent time together. They will hire their friends for the big jobs, and won't let new people in, unless they manage to join their inner group. CS:GO streaming has limited demand, so it's in their best interest to limit the amount of casters.

2015-04-09 12:21

"He has the experience." Im pretty sure Stuart has been at Twitch for 3 Years, i think he knows whats up by now.

2015-04-09 12:25

ye we saw what open circle gives to the scene... sadokist + tobiwan biggest cancer at the momment in csgo scene and just because of open circle :(

2015-04-09 12:57

But sado with natu r decent

Fucking russian boi

2015-04-09 15:57

2015-04-09 17:12

youtube.com/watch?t=1619&v=llnd1zGxjpw Here you go let Tosspot tell you about the streaming industry and how it has developed since the early 2000's, he has as much experience as anyone out there and is definitely not looking to block new talent.

2015-04-09 13:20

this is what twitch always was, once i got to know bunch of the people in the community. it started like that and it continued to grow like that

2015-04-09 16:45

<3<3<3

2015-04-09 12:06

Robin "Fifflaren" Johansson - IGL Spencer "Hiko" Martin - Lurker Pontus Eskilsson - Entry (he'll be the guy with 1 dot for a nickname) Anders "Anders Anders Anders" Blume - Support Auguste "Semmler" Massonnat - Support They won't play for entries and are gonna run the lock on T side with minimal deaths. It's all about that K/D ratio in the end. I can see them winning at least 3 majors n a row.

Anders is the exchange 1 for 1 guy.

2015-04-09 13:22

Anders is the awper...

LOL

No idea what that means, but nice.

top1

holy shit this is great news!

2015-04-09 12:11

omg n1

2015-04-09 12:12

Sooo... They're like a marketing team for CS while Twitch is funding them to do so, right?

2015-04-09 12:13

That's what i got from it, Twitch's outwards voice to the viewers. It is a bit vague though, not gonna lie

2015-04-09 12:17

anders <333

2015-04-09 12:14

what exactly are they doing? and how is ROF involved in this, does this mean they will only cast games on twitch, i.e no ESWC as example?

2015-04-09 12:15

Yeah, their position is described a bit vague

2015-04-09 12:18

Nice, congratulations Roblaren!

nice

2015-04-09 12:19

This is some of the best news i've read lately, really very nice!

2015-04-09 12:23

He can't play, he can't cast why would you hire him

2015-04-09 12:27

nice to hear gl fiffy

2015-04-09 12:30

Wow gratz and gl.

2015-04-09 12:31

Fiffy and Hiko omfg :D

hiko and fifflaren tag team to win next major, you heard it here first

2015-04-09 12:33

Say what? Me no speak greek

2015-04-09 12:34

Great stuff for the community

2015-04-09 12:35

I don't think I understand the job description. Are they like hosts? Like full time analyst desk guys for various events wherever they're needed, and just employed by twitch? Or will they be like community people that help different organisations with partnering and setting up with twitch? Will they do like weekly podcast talk show kindaa stuff or what? Will the CSGO section at twitch get even further customization over other games? (we already have "filter by map" type deal which is fairly unique)

2015-04-09 12:37

I don't really get what their jobs will be either. Would love a reply as well, if anyone knows what they'll actually do.

2015-04-09 15:10

Interesting lineup. Doubt they can compete with current top teams, though. Hiko is still a top player and Fiffy can probably get back in form pretty quickly (will he pick up the AWP or just be IGL?), but Anders and Semmler are not pro level. No idea about Pontus.

2015-04-09 12:38

ROFL

2015-04-09 13:17

Could you hook me up with some of that stuff you're smoking?

2015-04-09 13:21

twitter.com/Trancez0r/status/58612404039..

2015-04-09 13:25

Congrats, you're famous

2015-04-09 16:29

Still better team than Titan.

+111111

2015-04-09 12:44

anders and semmler... no offence but i much rather watch gotv than those 2 casting since they're shit. ddk and james ftw

2015-04-09 12:46

12 replies

-1

2015-04-09 12:53

no offense* and you're wrong about them, btw

2015-04-09 12:55

No offense, and then you start offending. n1

You can say whatever the fuck you want if you start with no offense. free be a jerk pass.

2015-04-09 15:55

ddk and black ddk are awesome, but anders and semmeler are cool too ;)

Ddk and black ddk good but not best Pansy and Deman best Kappa

2015-04-09 14:35

they only shouldnt cast NiP matches, they just cant cast those without rooting for them

2015-04-09 14:36

james? is that the black ddk

2015-04-09 16:17

yeah thats him

2015-04-09 20:36

does he have a name? lol

2015-04-09 21:13

WUT?!! Anders is da best m8.

2015-04-09 18:21

Don't worry, we stream on Twitch too :)

2015-04-09 23:17

Hmmm...can give you a bit more info about our agreement ( @PGL ) with Twitch.Basically if you subscribe to the PGL channel you almost get a full year of subscription for the money of just a month of sub.We did this cuz of the 2 DreamHacks in Romania & let users have those cool chat emotes ( 26 emotes if i'm not mistaken ).The subscription to the channel will last past the DreamHack Cluj ( witch is in oct-nov this year )!

2015-04-09 12:47

This is different, these guys will work for Twitch (as i see it). The thing you described is a partnership, not an employment. (If you are thining what you wrote is the same as this. I'm just saying this so there is not confusion)

2015-04-09 12:56

Don't get it wrong alex, i was only giving more info about our deal with twitch :D

*our deal with twitch* your deal? who are you people?

2015-04-09 18:24

Yeah alright, just checking so there is no confusion :)

2015-04-09 18:44

omgasm Anders, Semmler, and Hiko?? SIIIIIIICK

2015-04-09 12:51

What do they actually do? Anyone? Examples? ty

How about getting to work forming a new team, Hiko? Huh? Huh?

lol as if any player cares about a team when they can be making millions by doing stuff like this and streaming. let alone actually playing and getting sponsor, prize, and sticker money

2015-04-09 12:58

nice1 twitch

If twitch are signing anyone its because they are scared of the competition, MGL and whoever else, coming in and signing known people.

Fiffy is love fiffy is life

FIFFY!!!!! <3

2015-04-09 12:59

Easy for Sweden!

Fucking EPIC!!! Nice Twitch and grats to fiffy and the rest.

2015-04-09 13:08

FIFFYYYYY

2015-04-09 13:12

this is sooooo epic i love you guys!!!

2015-04-09 13:14

Ok, sooo.... Are they like twitch.tv's door2door salesmen or what? Going around during events and trying to get more professionals to stream and offering them twitch partnerships or...?

I think they'll start full-time streaming on a regular basis, while getting paid by twitch to increase cs:go's overall stream numbers

2015-04-09 13:45

Do you have a moment to talk about twitch and csgo for a moment?

2015-04-09 13:46

you always have the right answer

2015-04-09 13:56

RoF-Anders: "Do you have a moment to talk about twitch and csgo for a moment?" Me: "No.." RoF-Anders: "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!"

2015-04-09 14:26

hahaa

2015-04-09 15:04

lol i thought at first that twitch was about to create a CS:GO prof team lmao

woop woop... fiffy and hiko !! not so excited about overrated duo anders and semmler

2015-04-09 13:34

WB FIFFY<3

Where was my offer Kappa?

2015-04-09 13:40

Now they just need to hire pasha aswell. Then we can finally see CSGO rise above Dota and what ever the names are.

2015-04-09 13:42

:ooooo n1

2015-04-09 13:47

Anders in a top team Kappa

2015-04-09 13:51

stream team or real team? so confused >.<

FIFFY!!!

Hell yeah!

2015-04-09 13:52

YES NICE p0ntus :D GLHF!

2015-04-09 13:53

Fiflaren is good person i like him :D

2015-04-09 13:55

YEEEES! Love that you stay in the scene fiffy

2015-04-09 13:57

Oh well they're just locking favourite analysts and commentators to their platform so if MLG would like to repeat their CS:GO event, they can no longer have Fiffy as an analyst, because he has a contract with Twitch. Don't know if this is really something positive...

2015-04-09 13:59

Lol, implying MLG events are important in CS:GO

2015-04-09 14:16

CEVO's season finals will be at the MLG arena; MLG X Games drew top teams from Europe and the U.S. Wtf are you want dude

2015-04-09 16:33

They might be at least in NA? And MLG Aspen was at least in my opinion more exciting than Katowice, just the casters and analysts were better than what ESL has hired.

2015-04-09 21:00

yesssssssssssssssssssssssssss amazing hahaah

2015-04-09 14:11

Hiko retires from competitive play to be a CSGO caster, commentator and analyst. Sad day for CSGO.

nice motherfackin job !

2015-04-09 14:18

Twitch eSports Inc

2015-04-09 14:19

Soooooo... what is their job exactly? I mean how exactly are the going to increase PRESENCE of one of the most popular games on twitch? I mean, Hiko is already streaming, Anders and Semmler are casting games. I Don't get the whole idea of hiring

2015-04-09 14:22

Fify <3

2015-04-09 14:27

Can someone please explain me who THE F Pontus Eskilsson is???

2015-04-09 14:30

He is from Fragbite!

2015-04-09 14:59

Ok. Caster?

2015-04-09 17:57

naa just running the site i think

2015-04-09 19:03

does this means no team for hiko? :/

2015-04-09 14:32

That's pretty great news

Valve should take the same approach. Hire some ex pros to be the middle man between the devs and the community.

So nice that Twitch is getting into this shit

2015-04-09 14:43

rip hiko

top 1 team

2015-04-09 14:46

twitch > shitbox

2015-04-09 14:49

very bad lineup, will lose against any team.

2015-04-09 14:53

200 comments and no Lurppis comments? It's still quite ironic to see what his campaign to retire Fiffy has done to him. Not that he'd sign with Twitch, but this isn't helping him.

2015-04-09 15:17

very good choice btw! nice twitch

2015-04-09 15:20

im having pizza for dinner

2015-04-09 15:26

Top 1 team inc Kappa

2015-04-09 15:47

Stuart "TosspoT" Saw He's the real boss !

2015-04-09 16:02

that lineup is ez top 2 world with nV

2015-04-09 16:06

who is pontus eskilsson??

2015-04-09 16:11

He's the siteboss of fragbite. Works with dreamhack etc

2015-04-09 16:37

ok ty

2015-04-09 17:49

Cool

2015-04-09 16:16

Great for those guys, but I really hope it won't create a monopoly from Twitch on CS:GO, they're already powerful enough, we need other platforms to stream CS:GO as well.

2015-04-09 16:22

why they no sign summit?

2015-04-09 16:26

The only person that needs to sign CS:GO talent is Valve because they're so out of touch with the competitive community it's vomiting.

2015-04-09 16:27

-company

2015-04-09 16:28

I'm glad thorin didn't make the list. I don't like that guy

OMG, the bromance is real! Fiffy and Hiko reunited.

2015-04-09 16:31

oh god this is awesome for them all !

2015-04-09 16:34

Fifflaren is lyfe! <3

2015-04-09 16:35

Wondering what these guys' job description is. What exactly can they do to further increase Twitch's near-monopoly on CS:GO streaming? Free skins with each subscription? Idk

2015-04-09 16:36

2015-04-09 16:42

Holy shit :D FIFFLAREN <3

2015-04-09 16:57

hiko retirement confirmed. +natu would be great Kappa

2015-04-09 16:58

where's the talent? :p joking

2015-04-09 16:59

nice! no clue who Pontus Eskilsson is tho

2015-04-09 17:14

i dont know what they will do

2015-04-09 17:15

Fiitch

2015-04-09 17:20

Good luck, have fun!

2015-04-09 17:35

Disappointed, I thought Twitch were going to have their own CS:GO team.

2015-04-09 17:52

It is a team, bro. Hiko and Anders to carry every event.

2015-04-09 19:07

Anders and Hiko in the same team, Hiko gets an entry frag -> HIKO ARE U KIDDING ME, INHUMAN REACTIONS

2015-04-09 20:42

fiffy! <3

2015-04-09 17:55

Fiffy :D

They should have made a CSGO team instead of making whatever they meant to make ...

2015-04-09 21:11

dreamteam 2k15 when is their first major?

2015-04-09 21:20

Fifflaren (IGL), Hiko, Skadoodle, ScreaM, desi

2015-04-09 22:21

I think they can compete against nip and fnatic and nv

2015-04-09 22:24

inb4 they make team

2015-04-09 23:18

I have no idea what any of this means.

2015-04-10 03:07

dope. someone is going to be making a lot of money in the coming months from the sudden growth of CS:GO and I'm glad someone deserving is on the receiving end.

2015-04-10 03:53