At a press conference, Manager SK|TheSlasH answered the questions of the surprised reporters and stated that SK will focus on its Swedish team in the future.
We caught team manager Alexander for a short interview to give you an insight into this decision and the future of CS in SK Gaming.
Right after their loss against mousesports in the lower brackets, todi stated that the team won't exist anymore in the next year. What led you as the manager of the team to this decision?
Well, we had to face the fact that we just could not support the German team like we wanted to and like they deserved. The problem is also that in Germany, teams change way too fast and building a new team every 5-6 months does not bring the stability to SK-Gaming that we are looking for. Also we want to fully concentrate on our international CS team for 2007. All of those reasons led to the decision.
At their last event for SK, the guys around team captain mason ended fourth. Are you satisfied with their performance?
As we did not expect them to reach the finals in the first place and that it would be really hard for them to do so, we are more than happy the guys made it to Cologne. Of course, when playing the finals you want to go for the title, but that does not mean we are not satisfied. The match against mouse was really good and it was close. So yes, we are totally fine with the outcome.
Did the current discussion about "killergames" in Germany have anything to do with the decision of closing SK Germany?
No. (short and simple)
How will the future of Counter-Strike look for SK Gaming?
Well, we have the last two tournaments of the year coming up in New York and in Dallas, so we will see what happens there. In between those tournaments or after CPL the decisions for 2007 will be made 100%. Right now it is a dynamic process and the ones involved (players and management) know our plans. But for now we will keep the rest for ourselves and inform the community later, when all is fixed 100%.
SK Gaming wants to thank all squads over the past years of being the German squad and for the great times we had together. A big thanks goes especially to Mason who now played his third successful EPS season at SK Gaming!