A review of the year 2022

16.12.2022

A look back at the year 2022

The year 2022 is drawing to a close. A good occasion for us to look back at all that has happened this year - for Backforce, our partners and of course you: our community!

The year seemed to start promisingly. The Corona crisis was slowly subsiding, and the first events were on the horizon again. But already in February, a shock came for all of us: Russia's unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine, which was contrary to international law, overturned many convictions that had long been considered safe. The effects are palpable: rising energy costs, shortages of raw materials and inflation. A direct consequence of this: we at Backforce have also had to adjust our prices.

Even though all of this overshadows the year, we would still like to look at the nice events this year.

Finally, events again!

Now that the Corona crisis has abated, events are finally possible again. The first major tournaments are finally offline again. We were present at many of these events, such as the PGL Major Antwerp. We were also able to show off our new business cards. Keeping an e-sports theme, they are designed like trading cards with holo effect and stats. A nice gimmick to start a conversation with people.

We used the opportunities for events directly to publish our new chair together with you. You can read more about it further down in the text!

New and old partners

At Backforce, we continue to place a high value on ongoing, sustainable partnerships. Earlier this year, we announced the extension of our partnership with BIG until 2025. We are happy to have them still on board! The Counterstrike team was able to win the Roobet Cup despite frequent line-up changes and stand-ins, and also achieved success in the Majors. Furthermore, we are excited to follow the development of BIG's junior team "BIG OMEN ACADEMY", as well as the women's team "BIG EQUIPA" in Counterstrike, and "BIG CHROMA", the Non-Binary/Female Team for League of Legends.

One of our highlights from BIG was the collaboration with Natus Vincere for the #UnitedForPeace merch collection, where all proceeds were donated to Ukraine. We have also entered into a new partnership with NAVI and are already planning a NAVI Edition chair. Be excited!

In League of Legends, BIG has got a new opponent: Eintracht Spandau. For more rivalry and excitement, we signed them up and launched a Backforce V Edition together. Their debut at the Strauss Prime League Spring was incredible. They managed to fight their way to the finals against GamerLegion and eventually came in second place. We look forward to more achievements from #EINS and of course more fantastic content!

GamerLegion also had some highlights this year! As just mentioned, they won the final in Strauss Prime League Spring against Eintracht Spandau. Also in Age of Empires, GamerLegion could prove that they are still a strong opponent: TaToH became Wololo: Legacy 2022 Champion.

With Emil "HeatoN" Christensen, we were also able to bring a real Counterstrike legend with us this year. Known from Ninjas and Pyjamas and SK Gaming, he was long considered one of the best e-sports players in the world - the first person to be inducted into the ESL Hall of Fame. We also have a few things planned with HeatoN, that you can look forward to! 

This year we continued our tradition and once again supported #friendlyfire. The 8th edition was also a great success: despite inflation and the crisis, they were able to break the million mark in donations. This year, we participated with a Backforce V partner edition for Friendly Fire 8, which is still available. We donate part of the proceeds directly to Friendly Fire. In addition, we also participated in Live for Life, another fundraising stream.

New editions and a new chair

Over the year 2022, we have of course also released new chairs! Firstly, the much anticipated Backforce One and One Plus Violet, which made 3rd place in our community polls, as well as the Black Gold Edition, which came in 2nd. The latter, by the way, is the edition that HeatoN chose!

Our greatest challenge for this year, however, was our new Backforce chair, which we released in August. With this chair, we broke the "magic" price barrier of 400 euros. Backforce V (pronounced "We") is meant to be a chair for everyone, so we invited our partners, but also some of you from the community, to our launch event. The Backforce V is the basis for many new editions, such as the Eintracht Spandau Edition, a PCGH Edition and the Friendly Fire 8 Edition. Backforce V is available from 399 Euros (price for Germany).

Boost the Boss

With Boost the Boss, we have launched a streaming series to get our boss Stefan "Slame" Krumme fit for e-sports. With the help of CS:GO pro Denis Howell and other guests, Stefan trained to show you that anyone can be an e-sport pro! In addition, loyal viewers could win prizes. Boost the Boss was paused for a short time due to Stefan's personal reasons. We would like to continue in 2023 with fresh content for you!

Outlook for 2023

All in all, the past year was very eventful. We have more things planned for you in 2023. Among others. (spoiler!) a Backforce V Plus Edition. We are already looking forward to it! Stay tuned.

We wish you all a happy new year and all the best for 2023!