Wikipedia - Dignitas (esports)
Dignitas is an American esports organization based in Newark, New Jersey. It was founded by Michael "ODEE" O'Dell in 2003 as a merger of two Battlefield 1942 clans. Dignitas was acquired by the Philadelphia 76ers in 2016 and is now a part of parent company Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE). The team is best known for its League of Legends, Rocket League, Fortnite, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squads.
The organization rebranded in October 2018, dropping "Team" from its name and replacing its old "alien" logo with an owl logo. In January 2021, Dignitas once again replaced their logo, returning a modernized version of the original "alien" design and introducing it as a mascot named Digi.
History
Since the organization's inception in 2003, Dignitas have won 18 world championships and competed in 35 different titles.
2003 to 2009
Dignitas' first world championship came in 2005, when Chris Bullard won the FIFA Interactive World Cup.
In 2006, Dignitas' Battlefield 2 team was chosen as the Team of the Year by Geeksnet.org.
In May 2007, British Counter-Strike 1.6 news website UKCounterTerrorist.com ranked Dignitas as the number one team in Great Britain.
Freek "XeNoGeaR" Molema won the Trackmania Nations tournament and $10,000 at the 2007 Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC).
August 2007 saw Dignitas' Enemy Territory: Quake Wars team claim victory at Quakecon 2007, taking home $22,000.
Shaun "Apollo" Clark, representing Dignitas, placed first in Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars at the World Cyber Games 2007.
Dignitas' World in Conflict team was nominated for the 2007 eSports Award as "eSport Team of the Year".
At World Cyber Games 2008, Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath player Pascal "Dackel" Pfefferle would win gold for Dignitas.
2010–present
At the 2010 World Cyber Games, David "DaveySkills" Kelly won the Forza Motorsport 3 championship.
In January 2011, Dignitas player Jeffrey "SjoW" Brusi won $7,500 after placing first in the Starcraft 2 IEM European Tournament.
From 2010 until the organization's departure from the scene in 2016, Dignitas housed multiple TrackMania world champions. This began with Fredrik "Bergie" Bergmann's win at ESWC 2010. Then, Tim "Spam" Lunenburg and Carl-Antoni "Carl Jr." Cloutier placed first and third respectively at ESWC 2012 tournament. Most notably, Carl-Antoni "Carl Jr." Cloutier won three consecutive TrackMania 2 Stadium titles at ESWC 2013, 2014, and 2015.
Led by British team captain James "Bakery" Baker, Dignitas finished second at the 2015 World Championship, and went on to win 4 of the 5 European Championships the next year.
In 2016, Dignitas was acquired by Philadelphia 76ers owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer, who merged them with Apex Gaming while keeping the Dignitas branding. Now a part of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, Dignitas formed a parent company, New Meta Entertainment, in 2019 after merging with Clutch Gaming with investments from Fertitta Entertainment, Susquehanna Private Capital, Delaware North, and Steve Rifkind.
Continuing on form in 2017, the team won IEM Katowice. In 2018, the team won the first international tournament of the year, making the team three-time IEM Katowice champions. Dignitas' Rocket League team, consisting of ViolentPanda, Turbopolsa, and Kaydop, won the RLCS Season 5 Finals in June 2018, becoming world champions. Dignitas' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive women's roster won the annual GIRLGAMER Esports Festival back-to-back in 2017 and 2018, and the Intel Extreme Challenge Katowice in 2018 and 2019.