Did Ludwig Ahgren’s Offbrand studio shut down?

CJ Published December 14, 2024

The creator-driven studio Offbrand just announced a major shift, and fans are upset by the news.

Offbrand was founded in 2022 by Ludwig to connect creators with brands for sponsored content or events. The studio branched out with a live production company, game publishing company, and a worker cooperative. The marketing agency largely helped content creators create and run events and content series while helping them find interested sponsors.

Initially, the stated goal was to eventually retire from streaming to focus on Offbrand and other business ventures. But major news has just hit the streaming community that may impact these plans for the future.

Is Offbrand shutting down?

Offbrand is not completely shutting down but the live production portion is. The announcement on X explained that while the team “worked hard and made amazing content,” the events business wasn’t sustainable. As a result, the events part of Offbrand is being shut down and the employees have been let go.

Ludwig added that he will continue to create and host events through Mogul Moves instead. This meme-inspired company is also owned by Ludwig and focuses on esports tournaments and other gaming events.

“Thank you so much to everyone who supported and enjoyed all that we helped produce,” the announcement stated.

Offbrand followed up this tweet by sharing an Excel sheet with all of the former employees who have been let go from the live event portion of the agency. The spreadsheet includes their names, positions, contact information, and what events they helped bring to life.

These events include The Streamer Awards, Ludwig’s Streamer Games, Creator Dodgeball, Ludwig x Tarik 2, and other popular streamer-focused events and livestreams.

Fans initially had hope for its success when Ludwig sold his ownership stake to the workers back in June 2024. It effectively made the company a workers co-op, earning the praise of fans.  Ludwig explained that it gave more power to the employees and prevented him from “selling the company to Amazon for a million dollars” at a later date.  Unfortunately for the company, the struggles of the live entertainment industry proved much harder than expected.

During The Streamer Awards, Ludwig tweeted: “Events are really hard to do and I can only do them because of the people at Offbrand and Red Bull. I don’t know how much longer I’ll get to do them but I’m very happy to be recognized for what we’ve done so far.” The tweet came days before Offbrand’s announcement.

Since the layoffs, Ludwig has not made any public statements on social media about Offbrand.