Offbrand launched in 2022 with plenty of promise. The co-venture between Ludwig Ahgren and his business partners Nick Allen, Nathan Stanz, and Brandon Ewing planned to work with top creators to produce spectacular events that would rival TV game shows.
But just two years later, that side of Offbrand is no more. A statement shared on the company’s official X account revealed that the events side of the business has shut down. From this point forward, Offbrand’s operations will center around its more recent foray into the world of video game publishing.
“Our people worked hard and made amazing content, but we failed to make the events business sustainable,” reads the statement. “As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to shut that side of the business down.”
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Employees who worked on the events side of Offbrand will receive two months of severance. Ludwig also revealed that Jerma, the innovative streamer who joined Offbrand in 2023, left the company about six months ago due to personal reasons. “He was an irreplaceable part of Offbrand,” Ludwig said. “He adds a creativity that is one-of-one.”
That quote comes from a monologue uploaded to Ludwig’s Mogul Mail channel. In the video, Ludwig elaborated on the financial factors that contributed to the demise of Offbrand’s events businesses. Though he has referred to a $3 million accounting hole, he stressed that the main problem wasn’t a lack of profitability; it was the massive amount of effort it takes to produce even a single event.
“The issue was less that events don’t make money, but moreso that the appetite from creators for events of that scale at the cadence it would need to be would not allow people to be employed full-time,” Ludwig said. “It only really makes sense for contract work.”
Ludwig also pointed to a “general shift” in creator attitudes that made Offbrand-style events less of a priority. He noted that the most-watched streamers on Twitch rarely invest in large-scale productions. The events that do strike it big on those accounts, such as Kai Cenat‘s Mafiathon or the “Road to TwitchCon” featuring streamers like nmplol and ExtraEmily, feature intimate settings and maximize chat interaction at the expense of blockbuster thrills.
Many of the events Offbrand produced went live on Ludwig’s channel, and the streamer will continue to put on special productions for his followers. Meanwhile, Offbrand’s focus will shift to its publishing unit, which got off to a hot start when its first title rose to the top of the Steam charts.
The demise of Offbrand’s events unit should serve as a cautionary tale for streamers who want to bring creative broadcasts to platforms like Twitch. Those streams can certainly thrill viewers, but they require an immense amount of effort — a truth that Ludwig and co. just had to face.
