Interview: Aleksi Halsas – Co-Founder KOVA Esports

This week's interview is with Finnish Aleksi Halsas, who besides being Co-Founder of KOVA Esports is Direct Response Marketing specialist.

Aleksi Halsas, Co-Founder KOVA Esports. (Image: KOVA)

KOVA Esports is a Multi-Game organization, with players in several popular games. The organization seeks diversity, doing professional digital marketing in addition to video production. Check out what happened in our conversation with Aleksi, he told a little about the history of KOVA and about the sports they have.

When was KOVA Esports created? Who was the creator of this project?

KOVA Esports was created in early 2019. We were working on this project for a few months before the official launch. The creators were me, Aleksi Halsas and Antti Hirvonen.

Besides Counter Strike Global Offensive, what are the other modalities you have?

Today, in addition to Counter Strike Global Offensive, we have 5 more modalities. Rainbow Six Siege, Hearthstone, StarCraft II and Fortnite. We have a team of Streamers too.

Are there any plans to create new teams in new modalities?

We are constantly open to new possibilities, but nothing is desired in stone.

What about women's modalities, do you have any intention of creating women's teams?

Yes, we have intention, if they can compete, it will be created. We really don't care if the team has women or not. But yes, if they are able to compete.

Does KOVA Esports have any Gaming House for training its athletes?

Not our own, we have a partnership with JAMK University (Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences). We use their facilities for training.

How do you work on athletes' mental health? Is there a specific area of this within the organization?

We have our trainer Perttu Leppä who is responsible for the general health of athletes. And our General Manager Timo Tarvainen, who is responsible for all the team's programming.

The CS: GO team will dispute the Closed Qualifier for ESL One Rio, what is the expectation for this qualifier?

A very high expectation, we are looking to qualify, we are the “underdogs” and this situation is good for us. We are very confident and it is a very important qualifier for us. But in the long run, it is just one of the classifieds and we believe that, even though it is difficult, we do not classify the list with a bright future.

What is your expectation of the KOVA Esports brand for 5 years from now?

We are looking to create long-term sustainable growth. Having a global brand that people in eSports in general know about. Long-term planning is one of the heads for us. The 5-10 year window is definitely the right one we are looking for.

The Counter Strike Global Offensive team consisting of players: Samu “uli” Leirilaakso, Lauri “pietola” Hietala, Samuli “Twixie” Herrala, Petteri “peku” Jaakkola and Nikita “Derkeps” Sirmitev played in the Europe Minor Closed Qualifier of ESL One Rio 2020. Was defeated 2-0 in both clashes, against Heroic and OG.

KOVA Esports Counter Strike Global Offensive team. (Image: KOVA)

As mentioned in the interview, KOVA Esports had a very difficult path in this qualifier, but Aleksi strongly believes that in the near future they will be more prepared to compete for a Major.