Astralis Chairman Worked on New CS:GO Competitor

It has been announced that former Astralis CEO and current Group Chairman, Nikolaj Nyholm, had formally worked on plans to develop a competitive shooter title. In an attempt to rival Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in the eSports scene, Nyholm planned to raise funds in order to achieve his goal, however the departure of a key investor meant that they had to be shelved for the time being.

Named Scattershot Ltd and registered back in September, the venture was put in place between Nyholm and Counter-Strike 1.6 creator, Minh Le. However, the Canadian-Vietnamese video game programmer, who has been nicknamed “Gooseman” withdrew in order to focus upon an ongoing project, Plan 8, the next title from Black Desert Online developer Pearl Abyss.

Will Nyholm Press on With His Plans?

While it was seemingly up in the air as to whether Nyholm would look to continue with his plans, the fact that Scattershot Project B has been registered by the tech entrepreneur means that it is likely. Nyholm hopes to develop a first-person shooter game that is on par with CS:GO and the new Riot Games title, Valorant.

Nyholm owns 75% of the company’s shares and is regarded as its sole director, with the Dane having also ensured that he retained a majority of Project B’s voting shares. Former partner Le has since revealed that he is will no longer play an active role in the Scattershot project. Astralis, who won the ESL Pro League Season 12 just last month, are on somewhat shaky ground at present. The organization recently consolidated its holdings following a rebrand of its League of Legends team Origen and FIFA roster Future FC. Many believe that Astralis will now look to take advantage of its significant standing within eSports to secure major sponsorship deals.

Why Nyholm is Making Such a Move

Shares in Astralis have dropped from 9DKK to just 4.77DKK of late, with the fact that they have almost halved meaning that it perhaps comes as no surprise that the Astralis co-founder is looking at new ventures. Nyholm has vast experience in this area, having previously been a member of Sunstone Capital, a Danish venture capital firm. However, the investor faces an uphill battle in creating a first-person shooter game that can compete in an already crowded market.