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Oceanic esports organization ORDER is yet to find a buyer, weeks after the company went into voluntary administration.
The organization is reportedly a step away from liquidation, and their employees have already had their contracts terminated. This includes both players and all the company’s backend staff.
Despite this, ORDER is not at the liquidation stage yet and will discuss the option in a meeting set to be held in the next few weeks. The news of the company’s possible liquidation comes 12 months after they received over $5 million AUD ($2.94 million) in investment. ORDER went into voluntary administration on August 16 after a number of issues.
The company listed cash flow problems, as well as COVID-19, as the primary causes of their collapse. When they made the announcement, ORDER had more than ten non-competing staff and over 20 signed-on professional players who participated in titles like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, and Valorant. They also had several streamers in their employ.
Esports news reporter Andrew Amos gave details concerning the organization’s current situation on his Twitter page.
“#BREAKING: ORDER has failed to find a buyer, and employees have had their contacts terminated today,” he wrote.
“It’s not in liquidation: that’ll be discussed in a meeting in the next 2 weeks. Total debts were in the six-figures, with a full report coming soon.”
Amos also explained that employees in the Australian esports organization were “entitled to a redundancy package.” The current issue now is determining whether the professional players in the squad were legally considered employees or contractors. The answer could significantly affect how the players are compensated after ORDER shuts down.
According to the reporter, although liquidation seems inevitable for the administrators, there is a possibility that a buyer could appear at the last minute. ORDER reportedly had 17 interested parties who offered to buy the company initially. However, none of the offers appealed to them.
As a result of “market voltage” and the health crisis affecting the entire world, investors pulled the plug on ORDER in August.
David Holton, the director of Rodgers Reidy,the company in charge of ORDER’s case, stated that the franchise was put into this situation owing to the financial markets.
“Essentially, it’s a start-up where many people have invested a lot of money in trying to invest in Australia’s best esports teams and get ahead of the curve,” he said.
“Financial markets put their company into a position where their revenue wasn’t as strong as hoped, and they required additional investment.”
Suppose ORDER gets liquidated, then their employees, as well as the contractors, would be compensated first before paying off any of the six-figure debts the organization accrued.
“We’re still dealing with a number of claims against the company or other entities and their legitimacy,” the Rodgers Reidy director continued. “The trade creditors are out $200,000, then you’ve got employee entitlements on top of that, which will crystallize with redundancies for all the staff — but there’s no picture of total entitlements on that yet.”
Over time, ORDER has won five domestic titles and is set to participate in the DreamHack Melbourne 2022 as their final showing. The organization initially planned to have two teams participate in the first significant Australian esports LAN in around three years.
However, only the franchise’s League of Legends roster will represent them. The team will play against Pentanet.GG to secure a position in the LCO final and qualify for the Worlds 2022.
ORDER’s CS:GO team has currently returned to their Grayhound origins. They are among the ESL Challengers’ losers bracket. In order to avoid elimination, the team will play against the Australian esports organization, Vertex.
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