How Rebranding Destroyed DIVIZON
A German organisation known as DIVIZON has recently gone through a rough patch since their change in branding. Once known as KILLERFISH eSport, DIVIZON has been playing for roughly four years now. They’ve moved back and forth between the C and B-Tier division hoping to one day play with some of the best teams in the world. DIVIZON hasn’t had a first-place finish since 2016, and it’s been destroying their ego ever since.
A KILLER BRAND
DIVIZON was originally powered by KILLERFISH ENERGY but has since moved onto snakebyte and SkinBaron. KILLERFISH eSports competed for a total of three years and had multiple victories before calling it quits. Their 2015 season was an absolute blast with a combined total of eight first-place titles. They worked their way up from small weekly events to B-Tier tournaments by the end of the year.
While competitive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) slowly started to die off in Germany, so did KILLERFISH ENERGY. They were originally sponsors for a Mercedes Racing team and eventually moved onto esports. After the company closed down due to a lack of public consumption, KILLERFISH eSports joined in their retirement. A team that was on a massive winning streak was forced to convert to a different parent org.
DIVIZON SEEKS GUIDANCE
DIVIZON began to make their mark around October of 2016 along with a brand new roster from EASYPLAY. The newly acquired lineup spent about two months together before finding their first official win at 99Liga. Despite their success as a brand new team, the roster split apart after Nils "k1to" Gruhne left to play for Berzerk. In February of 2017, DIVIZON invested in a new lineup that they wanted to hold onto. They nearly doubled their total of attended events which led to some solid earnings.
After failing to earn a single cup at ESL Meisterschaft, DIVIZON began to part ways with a few core players. On September 25, 2017, DIVIZON signed their third roster from EURONICS Gaming. The lineup was based around Robin "ScrunK" Röpke and Jan "LyGHT" Patocka who were well-known duos at the time. With everything on the line, ScrunK and LyGHT helped their team finish second at ESL Meisterschaft Winter. That event alone helped make up for DIVIZON’s tragic time during the ESL Cash Cups.
Near the end of 2018, DIVIZON signed a roster after their core players chose to move away from the org as a whole. They only placed in the top three bracket at a handful of events but it wasn’t enough to fund the team. While their roster looked promising in trials, DIVIZON witnessed a tragedy at the start of their 2019 season. André "Kirby" Kempa left for a team known as Playing Ducks while Timo "pulzG" Walter moved into retirement. Both players lacked passion while playing with DIVIZON and couldn’t play with the team any longer.
After some last-minute roster changes, DIVIZON continued to battle it out during 2019. Little did they know it would be their worst season yet. They didn’t earn a single dollar that year, which would’ve been the final straw for most teams.
DIVIZON aren't like their competitors, they always tend to play it out no matter what gets in their way. Even when their main roster was struggling, DIVISON signed on an all-female roster to compete in different events. Near the end of 2019, another team made its way into the DIVIZON family.
Click to enlargeONE FINAL ROSTER
Dennis “Tunix” Schmidt and Markus “Fl4tLinr” Neumann joined forces in their final season of CS:GO along with their first independent roster. The unknown lineup spent their first seven months with a slow run. They lost all of their events and began to second guess their abilities and level as a team. DIVIZON broke their losing streak in the German Esports League which was a three-month event consisting of seven different teams. Even though eSport Rhein-Neckar took home the grand prize, DIVIZON still managed to win a majority of their matchups.
It seems like that event was a rare opportunity for DIVIZON considering their results throughout the rest of the year. They lost six events in a row before parting ways with their entire roster. The number of losses were hard to take, but most importantly, it was the lack of passion. DIVIZON was no longer a team sponsored by one of the biggest energy drinks in Germany; instead, they were a group of rookies. Just another team that was trying to get by in competitive CS:GO with an inconsistent roster.
Since their twelfth-place finish at the ESL Meisterschaft qualifier, DIVIZON has since moved onto bigger opportunities. They’re now focused on their company as a whole aside from competing in underwhelming C-Tier tournaments. DIVIZON hasn’t yet hinted at a return to CS:GO but that route is an unlikely one. Ever since their departure from KILLERFISH ENERGY, CS:GO has done more damage than good to DIVIZON.
Images via DIVIZON