Gen.G

Gen.G (Korean: 젠지, also called Gen.G Esports), previously known as KSV Esports, is a professional esports organization with headquarters in Santa Monica, Seoul, and Shanghai. According to Forbes, Gen.G is the sixth most valuable esports organization in the world as of December 2020, worth US$185 million.[2]

Gen.G
Full nameGeneration Gaming[1]
Short nameGEN / GenG
Games
FoundedAugust 2017
Based in
OwnersKevin Chou
Kent Wakeford
Websitegeng.gg

History

Gen.G Esports was formed in 2017 as KSV eSports by Kevin Chou and Kent Wakeford, co-founders of the video game development company Kabam. The organization started out by acquiring the rights for an Overwatch League franchise in Seoul, South Korea. The purchase reportedly amounted to $20 million with the intention to hire both an all-Korean roster as well as an all-Korean management staff.[3] This team would later be known as the Seoul Dynasty. On May 3, 2018, KSV eSports announced a rebranding to Gen.G.[4] On January 20, 2020, Gen.G was unveiled to be behind an NBA 2K League franchise called the "Gen.G Tigers of Shanghai", the first franchise to not be affiliated with an NBA team, and the first franchise outside of North America. Along with the announcement, Gen.G announced that itself and the NBA 2K League were working together in a "long-term strategic relationship".[5] On August 27, 2020, Gen.G was announced as one of the 10 selected teams as part of League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) franchising.[6] On September 21, 2022, Gen.G was announced as one of the 10 teams competing in the inaugural season of the VCT Pacifics league.[7]

Current divisions

League of Legends

The KSV League of Legends team was formed on November 30, 2017, with the acquisition of Samsung's esports division, which included the 2017 World Champions Samsung Galaxy roster.[8] The team, now named Gen.G Esports, would qualify for the 2018 League of Legends World Championship, but would end up being knocked out promptly in the group stage, with a 1–5 record, in a year with a particularly bad showing from the South Korean teams.[9]

Due to missing out on the 2019 World Championship, the team's next appearance on the world stage would be at the 2020 World Championship. Gen.G would make it to the quarterfinals of the 2020 World Championship before being eliminated by G2 Esports. Gen.G made it to the semifinals of the 2021 World Championship, but they were eliminated by Edward Gaming, which went on to become that year's world champions.

During the 2022 LCK Summer Split, Gen.G won their first LCK championship, defeating T1 in the final 3-0 to qualify as the first seed for the 2022 World Championship.[10] At Worlds, Gen.G grouped up against 100 Thieves, CTBC Flying Oyster, and Royal Never Give Up. After finishing first, they were placed against the 3rd Korean seed DWG KIA in the quarter finals, who they beat in a 3–2 series.[11] In the semi-finals, Gen.G faced DRX, the 4th seeded team from Korea and lost the series 1–3.

Gen.G won the 2023 LCK Spring Finals.

Once again Gen.G became the champions[12] of LCK Spring 2023, by defeating T1 in the finals by 3-1. With this win, the team qualify as the first seed for the Mid-Season Invitational 2023[13] along with T1. Gen.G had lost to T1 with score 2-3 and later lost to Bilibili Gaming with score 0-3, finished at 4th place in Bracket Stage. On August 20, 2023, Gen.G defeated T1, became the champions[14] of LCK Summer 2023.

Roster
Gen.G League of Legends roster
PlayersCoaches
Role Handle Name Nationality
Top Doran Choi Hyeon-jun South Korea
Jungle Peanut Han Wang-ho South Korea
Mid Chovy Jung Ji-hun South Korea
Bot Peyz Kim Soo-hwan South Korea
Support Delight Yu Hwan-jung South Korea
Head coach

Ko "Score" Dong-bin

Assistant coach(es)

Won "Mafa" Sang-yeon
Kim "Museong" Mu-seong

Legend:
  • (I) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Substitute player Substitute
  • Injured Injury / Illness
  

Latest roster transaction: November 22, 2022.

Challengers
Gen.G Global Academy League of Legends roster
PlayersCoaches
Role Handle Name Nationality
Top Casting Shin Min-je South Korea
Top Zest Kim Dong-min South Korea
Jungle Winner Woo Joo-sung South Korea
Mid Quid Lim Hyeon-seung South Korea
Bot Carfe Lee Ju-chan South Korea
Support Lospa Park Joon-hyeong South Korea
Head coach

Park "Nova" Chan-ho

Legend:
  • (I) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Substitute player Substitute
  • Injured Injury / Illness
  

Latest roster transaction: January 4, 2023.

NBA 2K

On September 26, 2019, the NBA 2K League today announced that Gen.G Esports would launch an NBA 2K League team from Shanghai that will join the other 22 NBA 2K League teams for the 2020 season. Gen.G Tigers of Shanghai was the first NBA 2K League team outside of North America.[15]

Overwatch

Gen.G Esports' start came with the acquisition of an Overwatch League franchise spot, naming the team the Seoul Dynasty.[16] In the leadup to this announcement, KSV eSports acquired the roster of Lunatic-Hai, on August 21, 2017.[17]

Roster
Further information: Seoul Dynasty § Current roster

PUBG: Battlegrounds

On November 7, 2017, KSV announced its entrance into the PUBG scene, with the team KSV Asel.[18] Just a few weeks later, on December 7, 2017, KSV added a second team for PUBG, KSV Notitle aka KSV NTT.[19] On August 16, 2018, Gen.G announced the merging of the two teams.[20] The resulting team has proved very successful over the years, winning the first PUBG World Championship - PUBG Global Invitational 2018, the 2019 Global Championship, and placing third at the 2021 PUBG Global Invitational.

Roster
Gen.G PUBG roster
PlayersCoaches
Handle Name Nationality
Pio Cha Seung-hoon South Korea
Inonix Na Hee-joo South Korea
Esther Go Jeong-wan South Korea
Asura Substitute player Jo Sang-won South Korea
Head coach
  • Bae "WatchinU" Seong-hu
Assistant coach(es)
  • Kim "Chelator" Min-ki
Legend:
  • (I) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Substitute player Substitute
  • Injured Injury / Illness
  

Latest roster transaction: December 1, 2021.

Rocket League

On September 28, 2022, Gen.G Mobil1 Racing was formed as a result of a partnership between Gen.G Esports and Mobil 1. ApparentlyJack, Chronic and noly joined the starting roster, with Pollo as substitute.[21] Allushin joined as coach on the 30th.[22]

Roster
Gen.G Mobil1 Racing Rocket League roster
PlayersCoaches
Handle Name Nationality
ApparentlyJack Benton, Jack England
noly Kidd, Joseph England
Chronic Iwanski, Nick United States
Pollo Substitute player Cruz, Noe United States
Head coach
  • Braxton "Allushin" Lagarec
Legend:
  • (I) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Substitute player Substitute
  • Injured Injury / Illness
  

Latest roster transaction: September 28, 2022.

Valorant

On May 4 entered Valorant with the acquisition of FRENCH CANADIANS.[23] Gen.G would win the first major North American VALORANT, T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Invitational.[24] Gen.G would go on to win an additional 3 tournaments in 2020 - Pittsburgh Knights Tournament Series, Pulse Invitational, and Pittsburgh Knights Before Christmas. After being accepted into the Valorant Pacific League, Gen.G moved its Valorant operations to Korea.

Roster
Gen.G Valorant roster
PlayersCoaches
Handle Name Nationality
Meteor Kim Tae-O South Korea
k1Ng Lee Seung-won South Korea
iNTRO Kang Seung-gyun South Korea
TS Yu Tae-seok South Korea
eKo Yeom Wang-ryong South Korea
Secret Kim Ha-jin South Korea
Head coach

Chris "Elmapuddy" Tebbit

Assistant coach(es)

Lee "bail" Sung-jae

Legend:
  • (I) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Substitute player Substitute
  • Injured Injury / Illness
  

Latest roster transaction: October 21, 2022.


Gen.G Black Valorant roster
PlayersCoaches
Handle Name Nationality
Carlee Gress, Carlee United States
hannah Reyes, Hannah United States
LeeLee McNeil, Lee Lee United States
Tiraye Knox, Tiraye United States
Lynn Clarke, Lynn United States
Head coach

Jackson "Jaxsen" Popelka

Legend:
  • (I) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Substitute player Substitute
  • Injured Injury / Illness
  

Latest roster transaction: July 30, 2021.

Former division

Heroes of the Storm

On October 24, 2017, it was announced that KSV acquired the rosters of two South Korean Heroes of the Storm (HOTS) teams - MVP Black and MVP Miracle.[25] On November 28, KSV announced it had to drop the now KSV Miracle roster, due to restrictions from Blizzard.[26] KSV Black/Gen.G roster would go on to win 3 Global Championships (2017 HOTS Global Championship, 2018 HOTS Global Championship Mid-Season Brawl, 2018 HOTS Global Championship) before Blizzard ended HOTS esports in December 2018.[27]

Clash Royale

On February 26, 2018, Gen.G announce the founding of the Clash Royale division in the Clash Royale League China with Cheshen, D.King, XiaoK, Little Chen and Winds.[28] Gen.G Esports withdrew from the Clash Royale League on November 4, 2019.[29]

Fortnite

On October 25, 2018, Gen.G entered Fortnite by signing an all-female Fortnite team, TINARAES, and maddiesuun.[30][31] In August 2019, Gen.G partnered with dating app Bumble to create an all-female Fortnite team known as "Gen.G Team Bumble".[32][33][34]

TINARAES would become the first female Fortnite player to win a major competitive Fortnite even in 'Twitch Rivals: TwitchCon Fortnite Showdown' with Rhux and Pika.[35] Gen.G would also sign 14 years old, Moqii, who would become the first female Fortnite pro to win a major Epic hosted solo Fortnite event 'European Fortnite Champion Series (FNCS) qualifier'.[36]

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

On January 31, 2019, Gen.G Esports enter Call of Duty with the signing of Team Space featuring Spacely, Maux, MajorManiak, Nagafen, Havok, and Nubzy as coach.[37] Gen.G would also bring on Envoy before CWL Fort Worth 2019.[38] Gen.G would finish CWL Anaheim 2019 in 2nd place [39] and finish 2019 CWL Pro League in 2nd place.[40] Gen.G would then be eliminated in last place in the Call of Duty Championship 2019.[41] Shortly after the CWL Championship 2019 Gen.G released all of their players since Gen.G would not be participating in the new Call of Duty League.[42]

Apex Legends

On March 1, 2019, Gen.G Esports entered the Competitive Apex Legends by signing GrimReality, dummy, and silkthread.[43] On November 19, 2019, Gen.G released its Apex Legends roster due to poor performance.[44]

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

On December 6, 2019, Gen.G signed the former core of Cloud9 along with the team's assistant coach.[45] Boston Major winner, Timothy "autimatic" Ta was signed, along with Kenneth "koosta" Suen, Damian "daps" Steele, and Chris "Elmapuddy" Tebbit as head coach. Three days later, Gen.G signed Sam "s0m" Oh after he was released from Team Envy.[46] Hunter "SicK" Mims was also announced as a stand-in for the IEM Katowice 2020 qualifiers until the final slot was filled. On December 22, Gen.G announced the signing Hansel "BnTeT" Ferdinand from top Chinese team TyLoo to finalize the roster.[47] Gen.G won the only in-person LAN in 2020 (due to COVID-19 pandemic), DreamHack Open Anaheim 2020, without dropping a map and currently remaining undefeated on LAN.[48] Gen.G would also win 2020 ESL One: Road to Rio - North America.[49] The roster was subsequently disbanded in February 2021, when its last member, Timothy "autimatic" Ta, was acquired by T1 in VALORANT.[50][51]

Championships
List of Gen.G Championships
League of Legends (2) Heroes of the Storm (3) PUBG: Battlegrounds (2) Rocket League (2)
  • Global Championship:
  • Global Invitational
  • Global Championship
  • Regional Invitational

References
  1. Murray, Trent (May 3, 2018). "KSV eSports Rebrands to Gen.G, and Expands into Clash Royale". The Esports Observer. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  2. Settimi, Christina (December 5, 2020). "The Most Valuable Esports Companies 2020". Forbes. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  3. Takahashi, Dean (July 12, 2017). "Why Kabam cofounder Kevin Chou is diving into esports with Overwatch League's Seoul franchise". VentureBeat.
  4. Takahashi, Dean (May 3, 2018). "KSV Esports rebrands as Gen.G, adds Clash Royale team". VentureBeat.
  5. Lace, Thomas (January 20, 2020). "Gen.G Tigers of Shanghai unveiled for NBA 2K League". Esports Insider.
  6. Jang, David (August 27, 2020). "Riot Games announces 10 preferred teams for the LCK franchising". INVEN Global.
  7. "2023 VALORANT TEAMS REVEAL". VALORANT Esports. September 21, 2022.
  8. Ji-hye, Shin (December 1, 2017). "Samsung sells off eSports team to KSV". The Korea Herold.
  9. Geracie, Nick (October 20, 2019). "[Worlds 2019] Highlights and Takeaways from the Group Stage". InvenGlobal.
  10. Garcia, Ethan (August 28, 2022). "Gen.G decimate T1 in 3-0 sweep to become LCK champions following extended technical difficulties delaying series start". Dot Esports.
  11. Bernardo, Anna (October 24, 2022). "League of Legends Worlds 2022: Gen.G outlast DWG KIA 3-2 to make it to semifinals". Yahoo News. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
  12. Mahato, Ashish (April 9, 2023). "Gen.G upset fan-favorite T1 to be crowned as LCK Spring 2023 Champions". Esportsgen.
  13. Mahato, Ashish (January 10, 2023). "The Mid-Season Invitational 2023 is coming to London, Check out the new format". Esportsgen.
  14. Mahato, Ashish (August 20, 2023). Esportsgen https://esportsgen.com/lck-summer-2023-winner-gen-g-defeats-t1-to-lift-its-second-lck-trophy-of-the-year/. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
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  17. Rosen, Daniel (August 22, 2017). "KSV signs Lunatic-Hai players to play for Seoul Overwatch League team". The Score Esports.
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  19. Gen.G Thailand [@Gen_G_THAILAND] (December 7, 2017). "[SCHEDULE] 171208 AfreecaTV PUBG League - Pilot Season 1 รอบคัดเลือก เวลา 09.30 น.(ไทย)" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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  21. "Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  22. "Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
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  24. Alford, Aaron (May 5, 2020). "Gen.G Wins $25,000 Valorant Invitational".
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  26. "5. Team Rules And Requirements" (PDF). Blizzard Entertainment. January 1, 2018.
  27. Gera, Emily (December 14, 2018). "Blizzard Is Ending 'Heroes of the Storm' Esports Plans". Variety.
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  29. Gen.G [@GenG] (November 3, 2019). "Thank you Gen.G Clash Royale" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  30. Takahashi, Dean (October 25, 2018). "Gen.G signs all-female Fortnite esports team".
  31. Kobek, Patrick (September 29, 2019). "Who is Tinaraes? A Fortnite Twitch Rivals MVP Player Profile".
  32. Pei, Annie (August 6, 2019). "Bumble has found its match, striking a deal with an all-women's Fortnite team". CNBC. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  33. Fitch, Adam (August 6, 2019). "Gen.G partners with Bumble for all-women Fortnite team". Esports Insider. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  34. "Bumble and Gen. G form first pro all-women 'Fortnite' team". Engadget. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  35. Kobek, Patrick (September 28, 2019). "Tinaraes, Rhux and Pika Win Twitch Rivals Fortnite!".
  36. Noack, Sven (March 8, 2020). "14-year old Moqii puts her mark on the Fortnite world".
  37. Binkowski, Justin (January 31, 2019). "Gen.G signs SpaceLy's team for the 2019 Call of Duty World League season".
  38. Donigan, Wyatt (March 6, 2019). "Gen.G makes surprising roster change just days before CWL Fort Worth".
  39. Binkowski, Justin (May 16, 2019). "100 Thieves take down Gen.G to win CWL Anaheim 2019".
  40. Byers, Preston (June 21, 2019). "EUnited defeat Gen.G to win 2019 CWL Pro League, break Clayster's 1,400-day championship drought".
  41. Petrosyan, Alber (August 14, 2019). "Gen.G eliminated from CWL Championship 2019".
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  44. Gen.G [@GenG] (November 19, 2019). "Today we part ways with our #GenGApex team" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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  48. Biazzi, Leonardo (February 24, 2020). "Gen.G win DreamHack Open Anaheim without dropping a single map".
  49. Cryptte (May 12, 2020). "Gen.G win ESL One: Road to Rio - North America".
  50. Rutledge, Caroline (December 15, 2020). "Gen.G Esports Places Entire CS:GO Roster Up For Transfer".
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  56. Rizzo, Tim (November 3, 2018). "Gen.G Esports becomes first back-to-back HGC world champion". Inven Global. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
  57. Newell, Adam (July 26, 2018). "Gen. G Gold take the TPP title at the PUBG Global Invitational 2018". Dot Esports. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
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  59. Thielmeyer, Max. "Gen.G Wins 'Rocket League' Championship Series Fall Major, Erases All Doubt Around Team". Forbes. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
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