OAM to shut down Splyce office, rebrand LEC team as MAD Lions

According to ESPN, OverActive Media is shutting down Splyce’s home office in New York and continuing their esports business with the main headquarters based in Toronto.

Splyce was founded in 2015 as a Canadian esports organization and was sold to OAM in November 2018, when they moved to the Rochester, New York office. Less than a year later, OAM decided to shut down that office and the eight job positions that come along with it. However, according to ESPN’s source, Splyce as a brand isn’t necessarily set to cease. 

On September 22, Dexerto was contacted by OverActive’s employees who shared the news of Splyce’s shut down, saying they were offered severance pay if they didn’t want to stay with the office until its end. The office is closing in December.

“The majority of the staff took the payouts so a lot of people left Splyce yesterday,” employees shared.

OAM owns a few other esports brands besides Splyce, including Overwatch League team Toronto Defiant, the Toronto franchise in the new Call of Duty franchise league, and Spanish brand MAD Lions. With their Overwatch and Call of Duty teams based in Toronto, they’re now looking to focus their operations in Canada and expand operations in North America and Europe.

“We appreciate and respect the contribution of our colleagues in Rochester, and we thank each of them for their commitment and passion over the years,” OAM vice president of global content and communications Paulo Senra said. “We will be headquartered in Toronto to appropriately support our players, coaches and all of our key business functions as our business continues to grow and mature.”

Splyce’s successful League of Legends Esports Championship franchise and one of the teams representing Europe at the 2019 World Championship is likely going to get rebranded as MAD Lions within the next few months, while MAD Lions’ current team will be dropped.

Although reasons for this decision haven’t been disclosed, it’s likely made from a financial standpoint, as OAM looks to focus its resources towards assets with the highest potential turnover with the goal of building a successful global esports organization.