While esports as a category has broadly struggled with monetization , FaZe's difficulties stemmed more from its reliance on just a few influencers for revenue.
The company makes money through revenue splits with its talent, brand partnerships, and esports winnings.
For FaZe, that revenue is often concentrated on the backs of a few big stars.
"This was too nascent of a business model to be publicly traded with too much 'key person risk' around influencers," Chapman said of FaZe.
GameSquare has subsidiaries like merchandise brand Mission Supply Co., influencer-marketing platform Sidekiq, and streaming data analytics firm Stream Hatchet, all of which could potentially be applied to the FaZe brand.
Persons:
Influencers, Clan, monetization, Michael Metzger, Josh Chapman, FaZe, Chapman, Justin Kenna, Kenna, we're
Organizations:
Drake, Konvoy Ventures, Clubhouse Media, YouTube
Locations:
influencers, GameSquare