At Nitor, Kanaliiga is both played and watched
At Nitor, teamwork runs smoothly both at work and on the server
Kanaliiga PUBG Squad S16 by Ajaton Idea is on the home stretch, with only the final game week left. In season 15, Nitor Goats won the 5th division of their tier. For season 16, the qualifier and a change in the number of tiers moved the team up to the 3rd division, where the games have naturally been tougher. Going into the last game day, Nitor Goats sit 11th in their tier.
“The season has been stickier than we expected after winning the qualifiers. We also had a few weaker game days early on. Luckily, on day four we got our first win of the season and plenty of points.”
The team’s goals were clear: 4 points per game early in the season and 7 per game towards the end, once they had adjusted to the pace of the tougher tier. As people who work with numbers and data, the Nitor players also forecast before the season where each team in their tier would finish. According to their model, Nitor will end the season somewhere between 7th and 13th.
“Hopefully we land there, so the forecast holds up.”
The team also has some less calculated wishes: everyone on the roster gets to play, the team gets screen time on the broadcasts, and every player has at least one moment of success during the season.
Nitor has played in Kanaliiga since 2019, starting from CS:GO season 3. Over the years the company has fielded players in CS:GO, Dota 2, Apex, PUBG and, of course, CS2. The original driving forces were Sami Airaksinen, who is also on the PUBG roster, and Tommi Koirikivi, who recruited the first teams. In PUBG, the early driving force was the late Pasi Rupponen.
Nitor’s PUBG roster is large, and the aim is that every player gets a fair share of games. The team and their roles:
- Sami Airaksinen, Principal Consultant
- Jaan Aaremäe, Senior Software Developer
- Edvard Fonsell, Senior Party Architect
- Anssi Moilanen, Senior Software Developer
- Anssi Kinnunen, Clojure Developer
- Erkki Pullinen, Vice President
- Pyry Joona, Senior Software Developer
- Lasse Lilja, Principal Data Scientist / Senior System Architect
- Juha Halme, Senior Software Architect
- Pasi Rupponen (in memoriam), Principal Consultant / Sales & Customers
“Our team is mostly people who code, crunch numbers and build business-critical solutions for our customers.”
With such a long history, colleagues follow Kanaliiga closely too. Streams have been shown on the office LED walls, at code camps and on trips abroad. When the group is together and Nitor has a game day, they hold watch parties, and many follow the broadcasts from home.
“Now that we are a sponsor, we could also host a Kanameet at our office on Aleksanterinkatu. Many of the companies and people we play against are familiar faces.”
Kanaliiga PUBG Squad S16 by Ajaton Idea is broadcast Mon–Thu from 20:00 and 20:15 at twitch.tv/kanaliigatv and twitch.tv/kanaliigatv2.