As the Apex Legends Global Series prepares for its fourth year, many teams and players are setting up for their debut or return to the Pro League. However, one of EMEA’s most successful teams will not be returning this coming fall, and for more than familiar reasons.
Casper “Gnaske” Præstensgaard announced on his Twitch stream on Oct. 1 that he is officially looking for a new organization for Year Four of the ALGS. He reveals that talks between Pioneers and EA resulted in the decision to leave the competitive Apex scene, as they saw no future financial sustainability within the league.
KCP’s departure from the ALGS is another large loss for the competitive scene, as many popular orgs have dropped out in the past years for the same reasons. NRG, Cloud 9, G2, and Team Liquid departed this past year, with all teams frustrated at the unfair revenue splits and lack of support from the ALGS organizers.
Compared to other competitive scenes, Apex has barely seen any team support, leading to the orgs’ struggles. Dota 2 has The International’s Compendium battle pass, and VALORANT includes the Champions bundle, where purchases fund their respective tournament prize pools, alongside giving players exclusive team items, skins, and more from the organizations participating in the event.
In comparison, Apex has only ever run one team skin shop in 2022, and famously failed to deliver team gun skins, despite past datamines confirming their existence, leading to the dissatisfaction of many orgs and the decision to pull out of the ALGS completely.
KCP first joined the scene on Sept. 17, 2022, signing the roster of GMT Esports, who had just come off a fifth-place finish at the ALGS 2022 Championship. Their starting 2023 roster consisted of Gnaske, Matthew “SirDel” Biggins, and Maksym “Max-Strafe” Stadniuk.
The roster would go on to find domestic and international success throughout the year despite missing Max-Strafe due to visa issues for all three LAN events. In response, Pioneers would sign “Zaine” Kazi as their new starting third, with Max-Strafe moved to a substitute role. This roster iteration would make two Match Point Finals appearances: fifth place at the Split Two Playoffs and eighth at the 2023 Championship.
However, despite their consistent success, the roster began to fall apart as contacts expired in the off-season. SirDel was the first member to announce his departure from the org on Sept. 14 as an unrestricted free agent, followed by Zaine on Sept. 17.
Gnaske’s stream confirmed his own free agency status, with Max-Strafe as the last signed Pioneer member, with no official statement on his future with the organization.
The ALGS has been confirmed to return for its fourth year, with the start date set for this fall. Currently, there has been no confirmation on what org will take KCP’s Pro League spot or if they will be replaced by a Challenger Circuit team heading into the Split One Pro League.
