Back in the year 2000, a bunch of Swede gamers built a Counter Strike Team with the awesome name Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP). This funny nickname, which may have sounded cheeky back then, is now one of esports’ most well-known global brands.
NIP’s distinctive name has become synonymous with major competitions in the world of esports as they celebrate their 25th anniversary this month. What started as a Counter-Strike team ran by Emil ‘HeatoN’ Christensen and Tommy ‘Potti’ Ingemarsson has become an entertainment firm that wants to achieve far more than gaming.
Having participated in its first LAN tournaments to being listed on Nasdaq, NIP has seen it all throughout its 25-year journey. Over the next 25 years, this considerable transformation reflects the organisation’s resilience and hints at even more potential to come.
Early Triumphs and Tribulations
Before e-sports were a thing, NIP was born as a passion project by Counter Strike fans looking to win competitively. In 2001, the team had its first major run at CPL Winter in Dallas, Texas, where they firmly established themselves as a competitor in the Swedish scene thanks to Potti and HeatoN.
After winning the CPL European event in Berlin, the team put themselves to the test versus North American opposition. They won the CPL Winter 2001, beating Xtreme 3 in the final and walked away with $50,000.
In the following year, European organization SK Gaming signed HeatoN, Potti and Jørgen ‘XeqtR’ Johannesse, putting Ninjas in Pyjamas on the bench temporarily. SK’s Swedish division was one of the top dogs in Counter-Strike in 2003. At the very least, CPL certainly thought so after SK’s win at CPL Summer and CPL Winter as well as the World Cyber Games.
Changes in competition and the organization’s environment started to affect the team’s ability to perform in subsequent years. After HeatoN and Potti’s contracts with SK ended, NIP was formed in 2005. They maintained their status as one of the best teams in 2006, winning both Dreamhack events as well as NGL-ONE and KODE5. These results showed that it was the player who made the brand successful and not the other way around.
In 2007, NIP’s aim at reviving Counter-Strike was thwarted. This was after many of their key players like Abdisamad ‘SpawN’ Mohamed and Robert ‘RobbaN’ Dahlström left the team. Post that, the team started performing inconsistently. The Counter-Strike division was shut down due to financial problems and lackluster results.
The real revival of Ninjas In Pyjamas started in 2012. It happened with the release of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) when the organization signed a roster united with it. The squad of Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund, Patrik ‘f0rest’ Lindberg, Richard ‘Xizt’ Landström, Adam ‘friberg’ Friberg and Robin ‘Fifflaren’ Johansson dominated the scene, conquering an unprecedented 87-map winning streak that remains unbroken to this day.
Between August 2012 and April 2013, the team won several events including ESWC 2012, DreamHack Winter 2012 and Copenhagen Games 2013. Despite success, winning a Major at Cologne 2014, NIP had internal problems within the team’s structure and issues commercialising their brand.
By 2016, the organisation required not a recharge but a complete overhaul.
Transformation into a Global Enterprise
Step in Hicham Chahine, who’s sponsoring NIP and is an expert in finance and Began his journey. What was first supposed to just be a 6 month break from the finance industry, became a full-time efforts to revamp the organisation
Chahine instantly understood the structural problem of NIP was bigger than what thought. It was lucky he arrived at the time when money started coming after esports as his industry was going mainstream.
Chahine wanted NIP to get into every video game market worldwide. Aside from a short stint in Warcraft 3 back in 2005, Ninjas in Pyjamas mostly stuck to Counter-Strike until they made a brief move into League of Legends in 2013, acquiring a EU LCS slot from Copenhagen Wolves.
Even though they only spent two years playing League of Legends, NIP was in the process of repositioning itself to match other big-name teams, with the intent of becoming a multi-title esports brand similar to Fnatic and SK Gaming members. Chahine decided to keep this philosophy when he joined the company.
Nip has gradually expanded to several other games. Some of these expansions proved to be unsustainable, such as a five-year presence in Dota 2 (2015-20), six years in Fortnite (2018-24) and a one-year participation in Overwatch (2016-17).
At present, the organisation operates rosters in Dota 2, Rainbow Six, EA FC, mobile titles, and returned to League of Legends in China’s LPL. Chahine wanted to build a company with infrastructure, IP and sustainability that was not dependent on volatility and competitive scalability.
Global Expansion Through Strategic Mergers
Chahine executed a merger in China in 2021 with ESV5, a major Chinese esports operator co-founded by tycoon Dr. Stanley Ho’s son Mario Ho. It wasn’t just for growth but for world integration. ESV5 has provided a portfolio of esports assets in China, most notably a franchise slot in the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) through the team Victory Five (V5). Also subsidiaries of ESV5 mobile gaming eStar Gaming.
Through the merger NIP was able to re-enter League of Legends ecosystem, which is arguably the most financially powerful ecosystem in esports. Together, Ninjas in Pyjamas and ESV5 became NIP Group. The company, which had established itself in Europe and China, went public on stock exchange in July 2024.
After going public, the company ventured into the Middle East and expanded into areas outside of competitive gaming. The NIP Group now includes companies in talent management, event production, publishing and hospitality.
The Future Vision
NIP wants to generate revenue in the 9-figure range going forward. The company will enter AI and blockchain, as well as build a fan ecosystem similar to football clubs for longevity. The continued success of this team requires the development of sustainable revenue streams and a well-structured ecosystem.Ninjas in pyjamas has shown what an esports organisation can achieve starting from underground LANs to competing globally on the biggest stage.
A team that safeguards its legacy but still thrives even after 25 years is the NIP. Only a few esports organizations have been active for over 20 years, such as SK Gaming (founded in 1997), Team Liquid (2000) and Fnatic (founded in 2004). So far, they have been the few that have helped shape esports.
Even though it has a funny name, Ninjas in Pyjamas is still going strong, building through strategy, most importantly competing with vision and determination.