Emo on Esports - Interview with 4Dead MD

I haven't really done any articles on Decerto lately under my 'Emo on Esports' section so I thought I should start it up again and this time I am going to do an interview. My interview is with no other than Andy 'Nosta' Watson of the newly formed 4Dead Gaming. They have risen out of nowhere to what looks set to be quite an up and coming org with some management that actually have their heads screwed on.

So in the interest of promoting up and coming organisations and purely because Andy had bugged me for so long for an interview I had a quick chat with him to get the low down on everything 4Dead.



Andy, can you give Decerto an introduction for those who don't know who you are?

Andy: Hi, my name is Andy Watson more commonly known on Decerto as "Nosta". I'm currently the managing director of 4Dead Gaming. I manage most of the console teams that represent us at the moment. Out of gaming I'm just a regular student with ambitions to use my growing managerial skills not only for 4Dead but hopefully in the Bio Medical Science sector in the near future.



Can you briefly explain Bio Medical Science?

Andy: Haha sure. Well my take on it is cell based worked (with some immunlogy) work mixed in. At the lower levels it's mainly alot of lab work for medical research.



The name and logo of 4Dead came under question when you first announced the organisation. Can you tell us the story behind this?

Andy: When I announced the launch of the organisation many people frowned upon some aspects. With launching the organisation the name and logo were chosen by not only myself, but Shane (Uni7ed) aswell. At this point in time Shane had been chosen to represent Power just before we had scheduled the announcement. It was abit of a blow and all work by him was kept pretty quiet between ourselves. The name and logo were chosen by both of us but obviously at that point Shane was involved alot more so it seemed ok. When I did finally announce the organisation Millo and Smithy were obviously not aware of our choice to use it. Today I still believe I have the right to use it as it was chosen by United who was a main member in the original team.

Would you ever catch ODEE with Ray Ban's?

The name 4Dead obviously had some history of a team that never really achieved much. What was the reason for choosing it?

Andy: Well we had a few names in the pipeline at the time. Back at the start when myself and Shane came together to form an organisation we had different opinions on what we should choose. I guess Shane always had a dream of creating 4Dead into an organisation because his memories from when the team was around. It wasn't based around the reputation of the name really. I've got to admit I also really liked the name so I decided to go on the choice. It's just a shame Shane didn't have the same amount of time to put into the organisation.



What is Shane's involvement now?

Andy: Sadly Shane has no involvement now. All of the management agreed that it would best for him to step down from 4Dead. Shane was great but when we grew I think he also realised he didn't have the time or money to put into it.



What teams do 4Dead currently have?

Andy: We currently have a MW2/CoD4 (Xbox) as I'm sure you all know. We also have a spanish MW2 Academy team. We also recently ventured on to the PS3 scene picking up our first MW2 team. As for the PC side we should be announcing a new CoD4 team within the next week as our former team attended the SEC in Copenhagen and departed from us recently.



How did you get involved with a Spanish MW2 team? Seems very random.

Haha quite odd you could say. Well they found us rather than vice versa. I think what really attracted us to them from their application was the chance to support a team far from the ordinary. They compete in different leagues such as the spanish CSL which for one helps us to branch out more I guess. Their skill level may not be up to the standard of some of Decerto's teams but that's what the academy scheme is about; to help them to achieve better with a stable management behind them.



Will they be attending any of the European events such as ECL, EGE or that new French Lan announced?

Andy: Our plans for them at the moment are strictly online, However, if both the management and the team think it would better to an extent we'd be more than willing to send them to mainlaind events. It would be nice to be able to have them there at EGE.

The New 4Dead Website

As an organisation that has just started up, do you aspire to any other organisations?

Andy: Yes definitely. I think what made myself want to create an organisation would be from looking at Dignitas and Reason when I first started out in competitive gaming. I think at the moment we try and follow the best bits from the larger named organisations and compile them.



What is your thoughts on big money investors and the recent increase for console squads?

Andy: Investors have been great in the scene in some aspects; look at ECL, without the big investors behind that there still may not have been a UK based console event planned! However, when you look at the investors behind organisations I think it's made a few teams want more. The CoD scene is no where near big enough to have the sums of money some people have been suggesting recently. I think in some respects it stunts the growth of the scene as more and more teams think they're too good for certain support. So if organisations aren't supporting teams in the area why would they want to support the scene in any way shape or form?



Would you prefer a big investor backing 4Dead straight away or do you want to build it up?

Andy: To be honest I'd like to be able to think I could turn down an big investor if 4Dead were ever approached by one as it would be nice to start something from nothing and actually finish in the same place. Realistically though I think I would probably take up an offer but work with the money in the same sort of way that I have in 4Dead to this date, which is probably the best way in the long term for both 4Dead and the community.



Do you have any sponsors in the pipeline you would like to announce?

Andy: I think we'll leave any negotiations under the hat for now. I'd obviously like to say but nothing is settled yet so it wouldn't be right to.



Whats the future for 4Dead?

Andy: It may be a way off but apart from the obvious of new teams in different games I think our plan is to also become mor community orientated aswell. In such ways as events (on top of the current online schedule) and other things such as video interviews at LAN etc.



What's the dream?

Andy: Well I think the dream is as most others. To gain recognition from everyone. To really be able to house and train some of Europe's best players and inspire others to a point in which they apsire to be like 4Dead.



A little bit more about yourself, do you still play competitively?

Andy: I want to, when I've got the time to I like to play scrims. I put it behind alot of other priorities these days. I was never amazing anyway I just enjoyed the people really. Haha


Got any 4Dead secrets to reveal?

Andy: We're planning an event for the CoD community in Autumn. This may change due to availability etc. We'll release more information in the near future.

4Dead Invite Lan - Coming soon apparently!

Elaborate....

Andy: It's all just plans at the moment and we'll be getting in contact with a few people including members of the Decerto council. It will hopefully have around 12 teams and will mainly only be viable for UK teams mainly due to pricing for mainland European teams. I think that's what I'll keep it to at the moment



Along the lines of an invite tournament?

Andy: What we plan to do is reward the consistently high placeing teams with an offline event which will be based more around deciding the ultimate team of the group



Thank you for taking the time out to do this interview, would you like to give any shout outs?

Andy: Shout out to all the teams and management. also United, nikz, hutch, cyber, jwsutton, Hypa, audacity, techman, Stallion, VnX. Also big shoutout to yourself Emo. Aswell as Loco and Mellow for stepping up to organising ECL. P.s. after doing the shoutouts I realised how little esports friends I have.



So there we have it, a nice little interview from the managing director of the newly formed 4Dead. I think I speak for everyone when I say I hope these guys do make it to being a big team as I believe grass roots organisations such as 4Dead are the future for Esports, the more organisations we have that can support our community the better. I especially like the idea of the invite tournament and it's something I will be personally trying to get involved with in the near future. I would like to thank Andy for taking the time out to do the interview and please check out their website at www.4Dead-Gaming.net.

As for the future of Emo on Esports I will be looking to do more interviews and articles on the new teams and organisations that are surfacing in and around the console Esport scene. Any suggestions are welcome.

You were with other people in the others Mr Popular.

GL with it all Nosta mate, should continue to do really well.