NYXL is a collective

esports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional sports, professional players, individually or as ...

and gaming organization based in New York. Launched under the name Andbox in 2019 by Sterling.VC, an investment fund backed by

Sterling Equities Sterling Equities in Great Neck, New York, is a diversified, family-run group of companies whose portfolio consists primarily of holdings in real estate, sports, and media in the New York area. These include the New York Mets, the Brooklyn Cyclon ...

, to operate esports franchises

New York Excelsior The New York Excelsior (often stylized as NYXL) is an American professional ''Overwatch'' esports team based in New York City, New York. The Excelsior compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West region. Founded in 20 ...

and New York Subliners, it was the first esports organization in New York to span multiple franchises. The organization established two more esports teams by 2021, and in March 2022, it rebranded as NYXL.

History

Andbox (2019–2022)

In July 2017, video game company

Activision Blizzard Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. It was founded in July 2008 through the merger of Activision, Inc. (the publicly traded parent company of Activision Publishing) and Viven ...

announced that

Jeff Wilpon Jeffrey Scott Wilpon (born December 9, 1961) is an American businessman who is the executive vice-president of Sterling Equities, and the owner of the Overwatch League Esports team the New York Excelsior. He is the former COO of the New York Mets ...

, co-founder and partner of Sterling.VC, an investment fund backed by

, had purchased a team, later branded as the

, for the upcoming

Overwatch League The Overwatch League (OWL) is a professional esports league for the video game ''Overwatch'', produced by its developer, Blizzard Entertainment. The Overwatch League follows the model of other traditional North American professional sporting le ...

, a professional, city-based, franchised esports league for the video game ''

Overwatch ''Overwatch'' is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of online multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment: '' Overwatch'' released in 2016, and ''Overwatch 2'' released in 2022. Both games fe ...

''. In May 2019, Activision Blizzard announced that Sterling.VC had purchased the New York franchise slot, with the team later branded the New York Subliners, for Activision Blizzard's second professional, city-based, franchised esports league, the

Call of Duty League The Call of Duty League (CDL) is a professional esports league for the video game series ''Call of Duty'', produced by its publisher Activision. The Call of Duty League follows the model of the Overwatch League as well as other traditional N ...

. To oversee the two franchises, Sterling.VC established New York's first esports organization to span multiple franchises, Andbox, which was unveiled on June 10, 2019 and would be headed by co-founders Scott Wilpon, Farzam Kamel and Rohit Gupta. Andbox entered its third esports market in September 2020, signing a '' Valorant'' team, which would compete under the Andbox name. In June 2021, the organization partnered with Trovo Mayhem to create a new ''

Call of Duty Mobile ''Call of Duty: Mobile'' is a free-to-play shooter game developed by TiMi Studio Group and published by Activision for Android and iOS. It was released on October 1, 2019, where it was one of the largest mobile game launches in history, genera ...

'' team, in which Trovo Mayhem was renamed to NYSL Mayhem. Andbox named ''

A Million Little Pieces ''A Million Little Pieces'' is a book by James Frey, originally sold as a memoir and later marketed as a semi-fictional novel following accusations of literary forgery. It tells the story of a 23-year-old alcoholic and abuser of other drugs and ...

'' author James Frey as its first CEO in January 2022.

NYXL (2022–present)

On March 23, 2022, Andbox rebranded as NYXL. Along with the rebrand, the organization announced that it would be making a seven-figure investment into New York City's gaming community over the coming year, which includes building its headquarters, XLHQ, in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and establishing a youth training program, YXL. NYXL also rebranded their ''Valorant'' team from Andbox to the NY Fury.

References

External links

* {{New York Excelsior, state=collapsed Esports organizations American companies established in 2019