Luminosity Gaming reacquired by Steve Maida, may possibly have a Smash roster

Luminosity has been reacquired by the unique proprietor and founder, Steve Maida.

On X (formerly Twitter), Luminosity formally introduced the return of Maida. As a part of the sale, Luminosity’s present gamers and creators have been paid in full utilizing cash from the sale. Nevertheless, historic money owed and beforehand unpaid creators are nonetheless the only accountability of former proprietor Vertiqal Studios.

“I’M BAAAAAACK! I’ve reacquired Luminosity Gaming! WOW! The place to start! What a full circle second,” Maida declared on LinkedIn. “Once I began Luminosity in my dad’s basement as a child, I by no means ever might have imagined the dimensions it could get to, or that I might be promoting it to an NHL crew.”

Again within the day, Maida was simply an ‘addicted gamer’ who wished to create a ‘cool crew’ with a ‘cool brand.’ His dream had been to have a Counter-Strike crew compete in a match, so he give up his company job and took the prospect.

“I nonetheless bear in mind within the first few months we have been stay, I used to be on the meals court docket in my native mall and a younger boy and his father walked previous me – the child had on the Luminosity blue zip hoodie. My jaw dropped. That’s after I knew I used to be onto one thing,” Maida recalled.

“It’s been a completely wild journey, and I couldn’t be happier to be again accountable for my child. It means the world to me. In the event you’ve supported me through the years, to the actual ones – THANK YOU. Excited for the long run!”

Lumonisoty was acquired by gaming and lifestyle company Vertiqal Studios from Fanatic Gaming in August 2025. The purpose was to develop the content material creator aspect of the model, increasing its presence on YouTube, Twitch and social media.

The acquisition got here with an settlement that Vertiqal would tackle the prevailing $2.6 million in present and ongoing liabilities, and Luminosity had include plenty of debt on the time of the sale.

After a number of months, content material creators and gamers got here ahead to say that Luminosity had not paid them after the acquisition. This included high Tremendous Smash Bros. Final participant Leonardo ‘MkLeo‘ Perez. Fellow Smash professional Carlos ‘Sonix‘ Perez additionally instructed his followers he was unsure about his sponsorship on stream.

The Esports Advocate reached out to Vertiqual Studios on the time, and a consultant responded that it had ‘taken on a distressed firm’ with ‘administration points.’ The rep added: “Whereas we knew there have been some missed funds, we didn’t understand the extent of missed funds till we began speaking to the creators, distributors and workers not too long ago.”

The consultant reassured The Esports Advocate that everybody could be paid.

In the meantime, Fanatic Gaming’s Chief Advertising Officer Alex Gonzalez denied that Luminosity had administration points forward of the acquisition. He defined that the organisation had a powerful roster and model that wasn’t mismanaged.

“Given the sturdy basis my crew and I have been capable of construct all through the previous couple of years, I really feel that Luminosity is well-positioned to proceed to thrive,” Gonzalez stated on the time.

For now, previous content material creators now not on Luminosity are nonetheless owed cash by Vertiqal Studios. Luminosity’s web site exhibits MkLeo, Sonix, Enrique ‘Maister’ Solis and Tyler ‘Marss’ Martins on its Tremendous Smash Bros. Final roster. Its League of Legends web page states that its team is TBD.