Cowana Disbands Its CS:GO Division

German esports organization cowana Gaming announced on Tuesday, December 6, that it was closing down its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive division. As stated, the current effects of the international crisis made running a CS:GO team no longer executable.

Cowana gaming announced on Tuesday, December 6, that it is closing its doors due to the “effects of the international crises.” The announcement sees cowana exit the CS:GO scene after two years.

Notably, cowana disbanding its CS:GO division hardly comes as a shock, given the recent events involving Thomas “Thomas “Utting and Kevin “HS” Tarn, who left the organization not long ago, citing unforeseen circumstances and unpaid salaries, respectively.

So while cowana closing its doors is big news, it’s hardly surprising, knowing that the German esports organization had supposedly been struggling financially.

“First of all, we would like to thank all the players, sponsors, and of course, the community, who have made possible an incredible time with unique experiences, moments of sadness and joy,” read the announcement.

“We managed to play in various titles in the highest national league in a very short time. We had the honor of advancing to the Pro League in Rainbow Six and competing with the best of the best. Our CSGO team got to battle it out for the top spot in ESLM and 99Damage league with Sprout, BIG AC as well as Attax.”

In the announcement, cowana also addressed the allegations of unpaid salaries, stating that all outstanding balances will be paid by the end of the year.

“Unfortunately, we also felt the effects of the international crises, and a large part of our business was no longer executable. The protracted nature of these circumstances has led us to decide to discontinue the trip at the end of the year. We will make sure that any outstanding balances are paid by the end of the year.”

With the organization closing its doors, it also moved all its players to free agency, where they can move to any team without a transfer fee.

Cowana Gaming first entered the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene in March 2020 with the signing of the former Raise Your Edge roster, consisting of Max “Qkay” Zimmermann, Alexander “Thraizer” Lickfeld, Florian “Like” Blinn, Maximilian “maxz” von Wachtmeiste, and Jannik “uN1” Bantel.

The inaugural roster, however, didn’t stick around for long. Just one month after signing its first CS:GO lineup, cowana released all of its players after uN1 and Thraizer received cheating bans in 99Liga Season 14. A couple of weeks later, cowana acquired a new all-German lineup of Fridolin “Frido” Reinhardt, Lukas “boostey” Schubert, Lorand “BMLN” Banki, Daniel “veniq” Stoppel, and Adrian “Aika” Schunke, who stuck around for much longer.

The new-look roster remained with cowana Gaming for eight months and has achieved reasonable success in domestic competitions. The team had a few strong qualifying runs and claimed silver medals from 00Liga S15 Div. 2.2 and SUMMACUM Invitational 2. Unfortunately, the team’s success was limited to lesser events, ushering another roster rebuild at the end of 2020.

Things didn’t improve in 2021 as the team continued to struggle with various roster iterations. In 2022, cowana won just one tournament trophy in April, when they claimed Fragster League Season 1.

However, since then, their best placement was runner-up at ESL Meisterschaft Spring 2022 and RCADIA x DUDES Alive 2022. Due to the team’s lack of success, cowana dropped down to no.252 in the global rankings in October and have since climbed back up to no.151, which is still far below the organization’s peak of 49th.

Whether cowana’s lack of success contributed to the organization’s decision to close down its doors remains to be seen. But it’s far to assume that it has.