From €4 Million Revenue to Bankruptcy: Why Legendary Counter-Strike Org ENCE Is Shutting Down After 13 Years
A seismic shockwave hit the European esports scene in Helsinki on Monday, October 26, 2026: after thirteen years of competing at the highest international level, storied Finnish organization ENCE (legally registered as ENCE eSports Oy) has officially filed for bankruptcy. From the legendary Cinderella run of its all-Finnish lineup at the IEM Katowice 2019 Major to lifting the IEM Dallas 2023 trophy and backing Joona "Serral" Sotala's historic StarCraft II world championships, one of Counter-Strike's most beloved clubs is permanently closing its doors.
Board of Directors Confirms Bankruptcy Filing After 13 Years of Operations
Founded in April 2013 by Petri "Procyon" Hämälä, Teemu "wabbit" Hiilinen, and former professional player Joona "natu" Leppänen,taking its name from the giant Enceladus of Greek mythology,the Finnish organization announced its closure in an official statement titled "The End of an Era." The board of directors of ENCE eSports Oy confirmed that the company could no longer sustain operations:
"After 13 years, the board of directors of ENCE eSports Oy has made the difficult decision to file for bankruptcy. To our players, staff, and partners, thank you for everything. And most importantly, to our fans: thank you for standing with us through every victory and defeat. None of this would have been possible without you."
The bankruptcy filing marks the final chapter of a prolonged financial struggle that accelerated throughout 2026. Back in March 2026, weighed down by the heavy salary demands of an international roster that was failing to qualify for Tier-1 LAN events, management benched its entire main Counter-Strike 2 lineup to pivot back toward a budget-conscious domestic Finnish talent pipeline, shortly after exiting Rainbow Six Siege. In June 2026, longtime CEO Mika Kuusisto stepped down after seven years at the helm, signaling the deep structural headwinds facing the Helsinki-based club.
From a Record €4.07 Million Turnover to the Brutal Reality of CS2's VRS Era
ENCE's collapse is all the more striking because the organization was long celebrated as a rare model of fiscal discipline during the broader "esports winter." At its commercial and competitive peak in 2022, ENCE eSports Oy reported the strongest financial year in its history in Finnish corporate filings: a record turnover of €4.07 million (€4,071,279) and a net profit exceeding €1.1 million.
During that era, ENCE's profitability rested on three reliable pillars: guaranteed annual revenue shares from ESL's partnered Louvre Agreement, lucrative Valve Major sticker capsules, and shrewd moneyball scouting that generated massive buyouts,most notably selling Lotan "Spinx" Giladi to Team Vitality in August 2022 and transferring the core trio of Snappi, SunPayus, and Maden to Team Falcons in December 2023.
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However, the complete overhaul of the Counter-Strike 2 competitive ecosystem in 2025 dismantled that safety net. Valve's mandate to abolish closed partner leagues and enforce the Valve Regional Standings (VRS) as the sole gateway to Major qualifiers and Tier-1 tournaments eliminated the guaranteed revenue stream of the Louvre Agreement. While squads across the globe now scrap for every single ranking point at regional LANs,such as Imperial Esports winning Circuit X Curitiba to lock in vital VRS Major points,ENCE's post-2023 rebuilds spiraled out of the top tier.
Deprived of multimillion-dollar Major sticker payouts and absent from the flagship arena showdowns where the current elite battle for seven-figure purses, such as the $1.25 million PGL Masters Bucharest 2026, the Finnish organization quickly burned through its remaining reserves.
From the "EZ4ENCE" Katowice 2019 Miracle to Serral's World Titles: An Unforgettable Legacy
While the corporate entity is shutting down, ENCE's cultural footprint in esports history is permanent. The organization captured the imagination of the entire gaming world in 2018 and 2019 with its iconic all-Finnish roster featuring Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen, Aleksi "allu" Jalli, Jere "sergej" Salo, Sami "xseven" Laasanen, and Jani "Aerial" Jussila. After winning StarSeries & i-League Season 6, the Finnish five staged one of the greatest underdog runs in Major history at IEM Katowice 2019, upsetting both Team Liquid and Natus Vincere in the playoffs before falling to Astralis in the Grand Final.
Just weeks later at BLAST Pro Series Madrid 2019, ENCE avenged that defeat in style, sweeping Astralis 2-0 in the final and snapping the Danish juggernaut's legendary 31-match winning streak on Nuke. Powered by the viral Finnish supporter anthem "EZ4ENCE" by The Verkkars,which Valve immortalized as an official in-game Music Kit,the Helsinki underdogs became a global phenomenon.
Following the infamous roster move that replaced Aleksib with Miikka "suNny" Kemppi in late 2019, ENCE pulled off a remarkable second act in 2022 by pivoting to an international lineup led by head coach Eetu "sAw" Saha and Danish in-game leader Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer. Featuring Paweł "dycha" Dycha, Pavle "Maden" Bošković, Álvaro "SunPayus" García, and Guy "NertZ" Iluz, the squad lifted the prestigious IEM Dallas 2023 trophy and reached the Grand Final of IEM Cologne 2023. Even in late 2024, four-time Major champion Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander claimed the final trophy of his playing career under the ENCE banner by defeating HEROIC at Elisa Masters Espoo.
Beyond Valve's tactical shooter,ENCE will forever be remembered as the long-time home of Joona "Serral" Sotala in StarCraft II. Representing ENCE from 2016 to 2023, the Finnish Zerg prodigy made history at BlizzCon 2018 by becoming the first non-Korean player ever to win the WCS Global Finals, later adding the IEM Katowice 2022 world championship trophy to the organization's cabinet.
My Take
Watching ENCE file for bankruptcy hits hard for anyone who lived through the magic of the Katowice 2019 Major. At a time when top-level esports was already shifting toward multimillion-dollar international superteams, watching five Finnish players ride the infectious beat of The Verkkars past Liquid and NAVI remains one of the purest memories of the entire CS:GO era. And the fact that they rebuilt from scratch three years later to win IEM Dallas 2023 under sAw and Snappi proved that ENCE had genuine sporting DNA.
Yet their downfall is also a sobering wake-up call about the ruthless economics of Counter-Strike 2. For years, guaranteed ESL Louvre Agreement payouts and Major sticker windfalls masked just how fragile esports team balance sheets really were. The moment ENCE sold its star core at the end of 2023 and slipped outside the top 20 of the VRS standings, the trap snapped shut: no partner league stipend to cushion the fall, no Major sticker money to replenish the coffers, and European operating costs that quickly became unsustainable. Valve's open circuit rewards immediate server results, but it leaves zero margin for error when a historic club hits a rebuilding year.
SEO consultant for over 20 years and digital entrepreneur, Charles 'Grimtag' Ronchain is the founder of Pro-Gamer.gg, Retrocharting.com, and Gamescharting.com. A competitive gamer, streamer, and retro game collector, he has worked in the video game industry for over 15 years, notably as a consultant for leading game price comparison platforms. Passionate about real-time performance data and gaming technology, he analyzes competitive esports, gaming hardware benchmarks, and creator workflows on Pro-Gamer.gg with an authentic player perspective.
