The worst and most messy rebrands in esports

Recently a lot of esports organizations have been polishing their logo and brand, adapting it to a more modern style. Sometimes however, things don’t turn out as well as they imagined.

As esports has evolved and has become more and more mainstream, a lot of organizations are facing the pressure of evolving their brand and with that also their logo and identity. Establishing your own style within a very crowded sphere can be pretty difficult and sometimes organizations go a little too far when redesigning their logo or when overhauling their entire visual style. Let’s take a look at some examples throughout the past years.

HellRaisers

Who didn’t expect this rebrand to be on the list? Initially, the Ukrainian organization used a demon-like figure as their logo and mascot, but in the summer of 2020 they decided it was time for something new. In a statement they made regarding the logo they talked about making their brand more modern and up-to-date with current times. The way they went about it did leave something to be desired, however.

HellRaisers opted to replace their old logo with two slanted stripes, resembling eyebrows. They’re red. That’s basically the entire new logo. While their new jerseys were well-received and the black and red color scheme is always a winner, most fans were not happy about the new logo. The rebrand spawned loads of reddit threads, calling it lazy and one of the worst rebrand in esports history. We can’t help but feel that statement is a little hyperbolic but the rebrand did leave some people pretty upset.

Ninjas in Pyjamas

This one is a wildcard and we’re still debating if we like this rebrand or not. When it comes to Ninjas in Pyjamas, the rebrand certainly falls more in the ‘messy’ than ‘bad’ category. Ninjas in Pyjamas is a huge organization with a long and deep history within the esports scene and a lot of fans were disappointed with the change in color scheme and overall look of the logo. With the rebrand Ninjas in Pyjamas looked more towards a more modern look, taking away the dark-gold colors for neon yellow. 

Fans were very vocal about the change with many simply preferring their old logo, while others didn’t like the new look because of the history behind the logo they’ve come to know. It’s a bold move for sure and the pushback was to be expected. Chances are people will warm up to it over time, but it sure makes for a messy and awkward transitional period as we say goodbye to one of the most iconic logos in the esports sphere.

North

The rebrand Danish esports organization North went through sparked some discussion and outrage among their fans. A lot of people seemed to be fans of their original logo, which resembled a roaring lion. It was simple and kind of basic, sure, but it did the job. When their rebrand was communicated on YouTube and Twitter, a lot of fans called out the new logo which was now based on a dragon with some Nordic influences.

The new logo featured a more rounded design with some wavy lines, which didn’t really do the dragon itself any justice. Due to the artstyle they employed, the dragon in their logo came to look a little bit like a long-haired fellow with an overbite. Of course this rebrand isn’t THAT bad and it still gets the job done, but it was certainly worth mentioning just for the discussion that it sparked.

NRG

While the new NRG logo certainly has its merits, such as looking pretty good when it’s printed in metallic on a jersey, it certainly received a lot of criticism. A lot of reddit threads talked about the logo feeling outdated, like it belongs on a VHS tape straight out of the nineties. Others were saying they felt like this was an April Fools joke.

The NRG logo itself may not have been well-received, the biggest problem came when they unveiled their new merch. More specifically their hoodies, which featured their tagline “100% Unapologetic”. The problem being that they made a spelling error with the hoodies now saying “100% unapolagetic”. The error is still visible in the original promotional video they put out.

Don’t forget to let us know which rebrands you liked (or didn’t like). If there’s any rebrands you’d remove from the list, let us know! Taste is subjective and you can’t please anyone when rebranding something people have gotten to know over the years.

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Image Credit: HellRaisers
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