Ninjas in Pyjamas is now 25 years old and celebrating a quarter-century in the esports industry. In 2000, this Counter-Strike team surfaced and started making waves in a fledgling landscape, growing out of Sweden and becoming known as a global gaming enterprise.
I recently caught up with NiP’s CEO, Hicham Chahine, to reflect on 25 years of Ninjas in Pyjamas and to gain an insight into the road ahead for the organisation.
From Humble to Holistic
What started as a group of friends playing Counter-Strike has grown over the last 25 years into a competitive powerhouse. Once upon a time, Ninjas in Pyjamas was a small thing, but in 2024, the ‘NIP Group’ stepped onto the NASDAQ.
The rosters under the Ninjas in Pyjamas banner have seen some of the most impressive players in history represent the company. In many cases, NiP has spearheaded the growth of the industry, setting and breaking records, going on historic runs, and winning countless trophies.
I asked CEO Hicham Chahine what it took to get this far:
One of the key elements was discipline, and being disciplined through a lot of different stages of the esports industry. One of the key components is that we at Ninjas in Pyjamas always had this realistic outlook on who we were and what the potential of the esports industry was, continuing to do our own thing.
We are staying true to the brand, true to the passion, true to the fans, and true to what essentially drives us which is winning trophies, being in the most relevant game titles, and then obtaining fans off of the back of that. Though we are born from Counter-Strike, we are today in 16 different video games with 19 different teams.
(We have) one of the largest talent management agencies with 36,000 influencers and digital creators, event production both for our own home games for League of Legends and Honor of Kings alongside music festivals, concerts, and third party events. We are continuing down the diversification route by launching esports hotels and launching a games publishing vertical.
Being disciplined, diversifying the business to handle the volatility of the market and the industry has been pretty core for us in standing the test of time.
Chahine was eager to let me know that the ‘future is pretty much like the past’ for Ninjas in Pyjamas. The organisation will continue to find its bread and butter in esports, but now, becoming one of the leading gaming entertainment companies in the world is the order of the day.
Given his unique position as CEO of this thriving company, I was interested in Chahine’s interpretation of the wider esports industry, and he didn’t disappoint:
I came into esports in 2015/16 when we saw a huge boom in the industry. That was very exciting to be a part of, going from a small sport that no one cared about to being such a large industry. I would be lying to say that I wasn’t concerned around 2019/20 when things were at its peak, and that I wasn’t more concerned when what should have been an evident bubble bursting in 2020 was prolonged by COVID hitting, amplifying this bubble for a little bit longer.
For me, the correction that has come post-COVID has been good for the industry. We are getting back to normalisation, and essentially out of that we have seen a lot of consolidation and a lot of expectations go back to realism. We are able to build a long- term sustainable industry off the back of that, and I am both happy and relieved that the esports winter did not do more damage than it actually did. It allowed the esport industry, particularly this year, to return to a growing pace with a realistic outlook that we can build on long term.
As Chahine put it, the organisation is now looking to the next 25 years of Ninjas in Pyjamas. It’ll be a different world by then, but I’m sure NiP will still be somewhere at the forefront of it.
What’s your favourite Ninjas in Pyjamas moment from the last 25 years? Let me know on the Insider Gaming forum
For more Insider Gaming esports, check out what OpTic Dashy had to say about winning COD Champs twice
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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