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Олександр КузьменкоGameDev Eng
19 December 2024, 13:24
2024-12-19
"Adult business is an attempt to make children's dreams come true." Maksym Krippa told why he acquired NAVI, how many people currently work in the team, and how much money it earns
Ukrainian businessman Maksym Krippa, who has gone public with his first major interview, has spoken about how he became the owner of the NAVI esports club and the Maincast company. According to him, after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, NAVI «cut off all ties» with Russia. This seemed like a bad business decision at first, but later yielded «fantastic results.»
Ukrainian businessman Maksym Krippa, who has gone public with his first major interview, has spoken about how he became the owner of the NAVI esports club and the Maincast company. According to him, after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, NAVI «cut off all ties» with Russia. This seemed like a bad business decision at first, but later yielded «fantastic results.»
According to Maxim Krippa, he himself is an avid gamer, and this prompted him to acquire NAVI in 2018.
«Already in the last grades of school, at university, I earned money by assembling gaming computers, then laying networks in computer clubs. And I was a hell of a gamer myself: I played Doom, Warcraft, Starcraft, Half-Life, Counter-Strike. And adult business is an attempt to fulfill childhood dreams», — the businessman said.
He added that when he bought 100% of NAVI from Oleksandr Kokhanovsky, it was already a legendary club. In 2018, it employed 30 people, but now the number of employees has grown to 200.
«I invested a lot in the club’s infrastructure: we opened our own office in Kyiv and two bootcamps in Berlin and Barcelona, where the teams train — all of this is our property. NAVI is the first organization in the world to launch its NAVI academy, whose graduates are already glorifying Ukraine on the Tier 1 stage,» noted Maksym Krippa.
According to him, this is a «personnel reserve» that allows you to save on expensive transfers. After the start of the Great War, the academy gave almost 100% priority to players from Ukraine.
How NAVI broke ties with Russia
Krippa said that before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, NAVI was perceived worldwide as «the largest CIS esports organization.» Half of the team was Russian, as Russia is the largest country in the CIS, and NAVI had previously sought players there.
«When the war started, we cut it off right away. NAVI underwent a transformation: it completely abandoned Russian players and the Russian language, and switched to English both in professional in-game communication and in content production. We were able to scout players from all over the world and completely forget about Rashka, becoming a truly global club,» said Maxim Krippa.
According to the NAVI owner, at first it seemed like a «terrible» decision from a business perspective, and some believed it would set back the club’s development by 7-8 years. But «the team rallied around the idea» to maintain global positions and «continue to lift trophies under the flag of Ukraine.»
«Since 2022, all of our rosters, all of our content on YouTube, Twitch, everywhere, have been completely in English. This has yielded fantastic results. Global sponsorships are a completely different kind of money,» Krippa noted.
NAVI returned the favor in 2024. The current Counter-Strike team has won 4 out of 6 CS2 World Championships, and has been to the grand finals twice.
«I don’t have any unprofitable businesses,» Krippa on NAVI’s profits
According to Maxim Krippa, esports is a «very profitable business,» generating «millions of dollars in net profit per year.» He pointed out that the esports audience is growing by 30-40% every year, which is driving the growth in viewership.
The club owner claims that over the past seven years NAVI has been in the top 5 global esports clubs in terms of the number of hours watched in matches involving them, and over the past 7 years NAVI matches have generated 571 million hours. This has a positive impact on sponsorship contracts, in addition, NAVI receives a share of tournament revenues, in particular ESL and BLAST.
» When I bought NAVI, it was a loss-making organization that was subsidized by about $1.5 milliona year. They told me then: it’s impossible to make a business out of this», — says Maksym Krippa.
According to him, the club’s CEO, Yevgeny Zolotarev, whom he «loves and respects», — said that NAVI cannot become profitable and that it is «impossible.»
«I replied: ‘Zhenya, I don’t have any unprofitable businesses.’ Within a year, we became profitable,» said the owner of NAVI.
About Maincast
Krippa said that Maincast, a company that produces esports content and broadcasts live matches for Dota 2, Counter-Strike 2, FIFA, Overwatch, and other games, has also turned a profit.
«The company is definitely profitable. Not like NAVI, but Maincast is already earning a seven-digit net profit in dollars», — the businessman claims.
According to him, Maincast is currently the «No. 1 esports broadcasting studio» in Eastern Europe. It owns 100% of the rights to cover leading esports tournaments in the Ukrainian language and is the official broadcaster of major tournaments in Counter Strike 2, Dota 2, Valorant and other disciplines.
Recall that Maxim Krippa also told how he became the owner of the GSC Game World studio. He indicated that GSC founder Sergey Grigorovich is no longer a shareholder, but will receive a percentage of STALKER 2 sales.
«It’s not just a commercial success, it’s a huge cultural achievement.» The owner of GSC Game World said that STALKER 2 has already paid for itself and is starting to make a profit
