Stéphane Cosse returns. Could this be the #FyreEsportFestival?
Paris is back in the news once more but this time for something a lot less exciting. Esports’ very own Billy McFarland; Stéphane Cosse is back!
Brought to the world by lf-conceptions “under the patronage of the French secretary of state for numeric/digital” no less, and Paris la Defence Arena, home to the French rugby club Racing 92, Esports Insider would like to present to you what could well be the #FyreEsportFestival currently known as “Numeric Games 2019″.
Eight Disciplines & 24 Tournaments scattered around Drones, Robots, Music, Hackathon, Virtual Reality, “Versus fighting” and “E-sports” (with genres including CS:GO Men and Women, Dota 2, Apex Legends, League of Legends and Fortnite) will feature in truly bizarre event.
Cosse is the man behind the first and last Clikarena. The 2003 tournament boasted a supposed total prize pool of close to $80,000 (~£62,000) and saw international titans compete in the great city of Toulouse, only to never get paid.
The E-Games Festival in 2009 appeared out of thin air but it wasn’t to be. It was cancelled at the last minute without any warning, and better yet, closing down and abandoning their office as recounted here by none other than djWHEAT:
“This weekend a big e-sports event was supposed to be held in Toulouse, France, the E-Games Festival. The organizing company was DIP Organisation, owned by Stéphane Cosse, the buyer of the ESWC brand and this was going to be the fourth edition.
Yesterday morning we (myself and my associate) arrived at the Toulouse Fair, the supposed venue, and -big surprise- there was no event.
We were very angry. We went to the offices of DIP Organisation to ask what had happened and found that they had been recently abandoned.”
In 2010 through Games-Solution in association with Jean-Marie Coutant and Luis Fernandez, Mr Cosse, after buying out the ESWC brand and after failing to pay contractors, ran an esports event at EuroDisney (at the time). He then had a general assembly on the 3rd day of the event, reorganised the company and use Groupe Coutant Finances’ overdraft to pay out cash prizes and watched it burn more significantly thereafter.
The future of the brand depended at the time on a yet-to-be-announced sponsor, that never came. And after their disappointment most, if not all, sponsors and partners left the event, never to return again due mainly to the promised 50,000 to 80,000 spectators (~2,300 in reality). The debacle concluded with the player party being interrupted and put to bed by the police.
After Games-Solution and Cosse failed to take the ESWC to Qatar, and a couple of alleged lawsuits later, ESWC 2011 remained in France and ended up being operated by Oxent (its previous owners) who ended up buying back the brand and selling it to Webedia as it remains today.
Two years ago, Cosse allegedly announced a colossal event taking place at the Champs de Mars in Paris, only, as with tradition, nothing happened.
Esports Insider says: With such an impressive CV and history of alleged malpractices, it’s incredible to see such commitment to esports and events management from Cosse, and the lack of due diligence from all the sponsors and partners helping to promote and operate the event. Many do wonder where the money is coming from this time around, and whether or not the event will even take place. Rest assured we will keep an eye on this one, and keep you posted.
