Playing Different. Forever. ♥︎

On December 31st, 2024, the Pedestal Gaming Organization ceased opperations indefinitely. Started by Valeria Ayala in Feburary of 2023, the Pedestal Gaming Organization (previosuly Variety Gaming League) was an E-Sports organization created with the goal of creating new forms of competive play, creating a new structure of league play in E-Sports, and supporting communities across the United States. In it's 2 years of exisitance, it went from a single league of 8 teams to the foudnation of a new and innovative system of leagues allowing for player development and unions to prosper.


Unfortunately, while the organization huge plans and was well supported by it's staff, funding never accumulated to allow for the organization to start it's initial season. With player avaliablity from the inital roster dwindling and focus required on other projects, Valeria announced in August of 2024 the organization would cease operations in December of 2024. 


The following was the last communication from the organization:


"The worst thing to come out of this summer is the realization that the Pedestal Gaming Organization cannot go anywhere with the way it's set up right now. I made this as a fun project where I could do the three things I love, playing games, spending time with my friends, and helping others. However, I realize just how much that differs from what it could be and how I truly want the Pedestal Org to be. This idea is something that I truly believe can change the way esports and gaming is perceived by the mainstream media. While it's gotten a much better rep now than ever before, I envision a future where Esports is considered a major league sport right alongside baseball and football and I see franchises creating bonds and culture with cities.


Unfortunately, something like that takes time, money, and effort, all things which I have very little of in general, much less when considering everything else I do.

So that leaves me with a few options:

  1. Quit. Drop the org, the league, the planned leagues, the planned events, its teams, the graphics, all of its documentation and ideas, and importantly, drop the work that myself and many others put into the league
  2. Postpone it. Take a break from anything regarding the org. Practically hide it until I have the ability to put more effort from myself and many others into it.
  3. Change it. Rework the league to either be toned down which means less effort or make the league part of a much bigger corporation which can handle the work (which in turn means having my hand and theirs on the wheel)
  4. Sell it. If I sell the org and everything else with it, someone else with much more money and time can put a lot of work into it to make the dream of changing Esports into a reality. The only thing is that I would no longer be involved in any way if I sold it, and chances are none of the other great people who have worked on this with me would be involved either.


I don't want to pick any of these options. I do not have any other options when it comes to the future of the org. I don't know if there's anyone else who cares as much about this organization as I do. For all I know, I could simply be speaking to a deaf crowd and the org could rise and fall without a second passing glance by anyone else. I don't want to watch this organization fall into obscurity and oblivion without at least knowing that there was truly nothing I could have done.


So to end off this message, I'm not asking for help or recognition (though I certainly wouldn't mind it). This is not the organization’s dying breath. If something can change; change in a huge way, by the end of 2024, then maybe there will be something more I can do to keep the dream alive. Until then, I just want to make one thing clear. This message was made to prove that there is not a single person who will ever be able to say that I didn't try to keep the Pedestal Organization going and that we will not go down without a fight. 


Until December, there is no such thing as impossible, and when it comes and goes, the dream of Playing Different and Playing Together will be one that will never be forgotten. If not by many, then by one."