Fan Token Firm Chiliz Acquires 2-Time 'Dota 2' Champions, OG Esports

In brief

The Chiliz Group has acquired a controlling stake in OG Esports, a prominent competitive gaming organization.
OG Esports unveiled its own fan token on Chiliz’s Socios.com platform back in 2020. It recently hit an all-time high price.
Chiliz has teased various future team-related benefits for OG token holders, along with a new Web3-related project.

The Chiliz Group, which operates the Socios.com crypto fan token platform, announced Tuesday that it has acquired a 51% controlling stake in OG Esports, the competitive gaming organization founded in 2015 by Dota 2 legends Johan “nOtail” Sundstein and Sébastien “Ceb” Debs.

OG made history as the first team to win consecutive titles at The International—the annual, high-profile Dota 2 world championship tournament—in 2018 and 2019, and has since expanded into multiple games including Counter-Strike, Honor of Kings, and Marvel Rivals.

The team was also the first esports organization to join the Socios platform with the 2020 debut of its own fan token, which Chiliz said recently became the first esports team token to exceed a $100 million market capitalization.

OG was recently priced at $16.88, up nearly 9% on the day following the announcement. The token’s price peaked at a new all-time high of $24.78 last week ahead of The International 2025, where OG did not compete this year.

Following the acquisition, Xavier Oswald will assume the CEO role, while the co-founders will turn their attention to “a new strategic project consolidating the team’s competitive foundation [and] driving innovation at the intersection of esports and Web3,” per a press release.

No further details were provided regarding that project.

“Bringing OG into the Chiliz Group is a major step toward further strengthening fan experiences, one where the community doesn’t just watch from the sidelines but gets to shape the journey,” Chiliz CEO Alex Dreyfus told Decrypt. “With the team’s legacy, founders like Johan and Ceb still front and center, and a digitally native fanbase, we have the perfect foundation to explore a next-gen model for esports engagement.”

“Working with the OG founders, we will explore making the $OG shop a window [into] what fan tokens can bring to fan communities,” he added. “That could mean token-based governance, NFT ticketing, exclusive drops, or on-chain loyalty systems, and possibly even innovative ideas like tying buybacks to team revenue and tournament prizes.”

OG currently has the highest market cap of any fan token on the Socios.com platform, according to data from CoinGecko. Socios has also introduced official tokens tied to traditional sports giants like Juventus, FC Barcelona, and Paris Saint-Germain F.C., along with the UFC fighting league.

Socios.com will serve as the exclusive platform for OG fan tokens, positioning the token as an example of the evolving fan economy that integrates real-world assets, merchandise, and club revenues.

“We’re still early in this partnership, but the goal is clear: to align OG’s competitive success with real, on-chain value for their global fanbase,” said Dreyfus. “This is where esports and Web3 can truly come together.”