"The Door Is Always Open for a Return Into Counter-Strike With Any Roster"

Blanks: At the moment, we're competing in the Marvel Rivals Ignite series. And VPG, which is eleven aside, a football game. And then we've still got contacts in the retro Call of Duty 2 and Call of Duty 4, where they hold one event a year that we put a team together for. To keep the history of Reason Gaming alive in those titles, cause that's where Reason Gaming started.

Blanks: It was just partly a really good opportunity. A former manager of ours who works with Virtus Pro contacted us, and he said that this team was looking for an organization. I played Marvel Rivals on release and enjoyed the game. And having also played Overwatch before, it's a very similar game to that. It all seemed like a natural progression. After talking to the team, or at least the manager, it seemed like a really good fit for us, so we just decided to take the leap into this new title. We've always liked to branch out into new things. Over the 25 years, we've been in probably 30 different esports titles, if not more. We're just always trying new games alongside well-established ones.

Blanks: Definitely for this year. We're in the Ignite series for the duration. So it's definitely something we'll reflect on at the end of the year and make a decision. But so far, we love it. The manager is a great guy and we really gelled with him. From day one, he's a great addition to Reason Gaming, shares our values and has a great personality. We have truly enjoyed taking part in the series. So far, NetEase has been one of the best tournament organizers and game developers. They are really open and really community-oriented. As things stand at the moment, I don't see us wanting to move away from Marvel Rivals anytime soon.

Blanks: I think the main thing is to stay motivated and enjoy what you're doing. There have definitely been a few times over the years that I've thought, why am I still doing this? When you're banging your head against a brick wall, or you're suffering a string of bad defeats, or you lose a team that you've put a lot of effort into. But if you stay focused, enjoy what you're doing, it's always easy to bounce back from those blows and get back on track.
It also helps to have a good team around you. When one person hits a wall or falls into a slump, everyone can pick each other up and carry on. You never stop moving forward.

Blanks: Some of the biggest changes are definitely game developers becoming more involved in their titles. Back in the day, it was more the Capcom's Street Fighter, they've always been very involved. When Valve stepped up and said, we're actually gonna start doing majors and defining what the top tier of esports was. They really put more of a spotlight on esports and helped it grow to what it is today.

Blanks: There's always room for the UK to grow. I mean, the UK has some really passionate gamers across several scenes. Historically, the UK sort of hit its stride before esports was ready. Back in the Counter-Strike: Source years, we had some of the biggest LANs the UK has ever seen. We had huge teams coming over to the UK to compete, including VeryGames and the original Reason Gaming from Europe.
And the main issue holding us back is two things really. It's recognition of esports. It's more accepted than it was, but it's still not as accepted as Denmark. Denmark does amazing things for gamers, and esports in general. And also the sheer cost of being in the UK. It makes it very hard for players to be full time. Where you're looking to make that push into being full time, you just can't do it in the UK without a decent salary. And without companies recognizing that inside the UK, the money's not there to grow. So either these players have to do part time, so they never reach their full potential, or end up joining a European team or an American team, and so leaving the UK scene.

Blanks: I think we have a lot of good infrastructure in the UK, for esports, but it's just not widely accessible. With more understanding and more acceptance from companies and from the government, it would promote more growth inside the facilities and the offerings for young gamers to progress.

Blanks: I think it has definitely stagnated comparing our status back in the Counter-Strike: Source days to where we are now. The number of domestic teams that attend LAN events, or even stay active nowadays, has decreased. But I mean, the one thing that the UK has, in just even outside of these ones, is we never give up, we never surrender, we never call it a day. There will always be people pushing the scene forward and making sure that it doesn't just die out. Even outside of Counter Strike, we have good domestic scenes in League of Legends as well. And our Street Fighter scene is very active.

Blanks: We're always open to new titles, new games and new areas to explore. It's one of the reasons why our team features our contact form on our website. We read everything that people send to us. And nine times out of ten, we will at least start a conversation, either on Discord or via email about the possibilities of a new team or a new game. So we never shy away from expanding into the unknown. It's one of the things we've always enjoyed doing is picking up new titles and learning. Learning the ins and outs of that game, because every game differs when it comes to the competitive scene.

Blanks: There's always a chance of that. The main issue we have with Counter-Strike is just the sheer cost of it. Until we land another big gambling sponsor, big crypto sponsor, there's very little chance of doing it. Everything we've done for the last eight years in Counter-Strike has just been short-term deals to help get them to an event or get them into a series. We don't mind doing that. We don't mind offering our name out to teams to work with them to progress them on their way and get them a bit more of a spotlight.
We have recently been in contact with our old Polish team at the moment to see how they're doing, so the door is always open for a return into Counter-Strike with any roster that wants to work with us.

Blanks: I think definitely more international, European works well. Because the times when we had the American team, a few years ago, it was good to explore the American scene for a while, but the time zones, it was a nightmare cause the games are happening in the middle of the night or in the early morning. We've had an Australian team apply before, and I was like, as much as I'd love to do this, but time zones would definitely kill me a bit there. So yeah, European would work, and there's a possibility for Asia as well. But the main issue with Asia is the language barrier. Though English is widely spoken, it's not adopted in some parts of Asia.

Blanks: We had a Malaysian Dota team once. When they formed, they lost their first qualifier and broke apart, so it didn't last that long, but we have done it. Asia is a great scene, and Marvel Rivals has a lot of ties to China, being a NetEase title. We are seeing more interest and more following from Asia now. So nothing's ever off the table. We're happy to work with anyone that seems suitable.