SK Gaming is a German eSports organization. Founded in 1997 under the name “Schroet Kommando” in Oberhausen, Germany, it has since then grown into one of the largest and most well-known eSports organizations in the world, and they are primarily known for their hugely successful Counter-Strike team.
History[edit]
Beginnings[edit]
Schroet Kommando was founded in 1997 as a German Quake clan by four brothers and three accomplices in Oberhausen, Germany. The original line-up of Schroet Kommando consisted of Ralf “Griff” Reichert, Daniel “Godlike” Beames, Tim “Burke” Reichert, Benjamin “Kane” Reichert, Kristof “Speed” Salwiczek, Carsten “Storch” Kramer and Sven “Ramses” Tümmers.[1] According to Ralf Reichert, the original naming of the organization originated from one of the members repeatedly shouting, “Schröet!” This was a common occurrence from whenever a double-barreled shotgun would be handled, due to the translation meaning “shrapnel”. Eventually, the team adopted this into their name, thus becoming “Schroet Kommando”. Since then, the organization began using their abbreviation more often, until it eventually became SK Gaming.[2]
Initially, the Beames family home operated as the Schroet Kommando headquarters, concentrating primarily upon the Quake series. Early on, Schroet Kommando became one of the first clans to feature an all-female team; the most notable of which was Annemarie “XS” Warnkross, who is a notable current television host on German TV. The organization expanded into Counter-Strike, where it became known as one of the most-successful squads in all of Germany. In September 2001, Andreas “bds” Thorstensson merged his Geekboys team and news syndicate with that of SK Gaming, with a long-term prospect of emphasizing the success of his own organization. Thorstensson revolutionized electronic sports by having SK act as the first organization to have payable premium services (“SK Insider”, a virtual marketplace in which subscribers could download demos, mods and add-ons better and earlier than others, talk directly to SK gamers etc.).[2] The organization’s international Counter-Strike success came when they signed on the players of the successful Swedish Counter-Strike clan Ninjas in Pyjamas. In 2003, SK Gaming became the first electronic sports organization to contract players, beginning with the SK Sweden Counter-Strike squad.[3]
Later Years[edit]
The 2006 season brought no successes to the Counter-Strike team, the most notable of which, the team failed to qualify for the Electronic Sports World Cup, in which Sweden was represented by rivals Ninjas in Pyjamas and the developing Fnatic team. Thereafter, the team managed to qualify for the KODE5 finals, where they won two matches and lost to the Brazilians from mibr during the group stages. They then lost to Wisdom Nerve Victory in the single elimination round, placing fifth to eighth overall. Success did come for the Quake 4 squad however, as the Swedish star player Johan “Toxic” Quick managed to win eight out of the ten major tournaments during that year, including four out of five World Championships. Meanwhile, the FIFA 06 squad had a successful year, as the team managed to win the prestigious Electronic Sports League Pro Series twice, and the German player Daniel “hero” Schellhase won the World Cyber Games championship.
In 2008, SK Gaming began to invest in World of Warcraft and shortly before the release of the Sunwell Plateau, the final and most challenging raid encounter of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, the organization sponsored Curse, one of the highest-ranked guilds at the time.[4] SK Gaming’s German competitor, Mousesports, had significantly commanded the recognition with maintaining Nihilum, the most-successful guild in the world, achieving a strong majority of world first raid kills. The newly recruited SK.PvE squad, however, had a strong winning streak during the Sunwell Plateau and completed most of the instance’s boss kills first.[5] Due to differences in interests, the PvE team was dismissed, with a stronger emphasis upon the PvP aspect.[6] Near the end of 2008, SK Gaming entered the competitive console scene, with acquisition of a German Xbox team.[7]
On January 15, 2013, it was determined that SteelSeries has ended their ten-year sponsorship of SK Gaming, in addition to Evil Geniuses.[8]
