"It's like everything I pictured and imagined when I started playing" - Potti on Ninjas in Pyjamas' legacy as the organization turns 25 [Exclusive]

Ninjas in Pyjamas fans will easily recognize Tommy "Potti" Ingemarsson as one of the original Counter-Strike legends. As one of the first-ever world champions of Counter-Strike, Potti is considered part of what many would call the first generation of professional gamers. He is also a co-founder of Ninjas in Pyjamas (albeit from his basement), a team that later achieved the legendary 87-0 map win streak, a feat that remains unbeaten in esports to this day.

As Ninjas in Pyjamas turns 25 in June 2025, I had the opportunity to talk to Potti and reminisce about his legendary journey. From humble beginnings with a name as "unserious" as Ninjas in Pyjamas, the organization has endured the test of time and grown into a dominant force in the esports scene. Let's take a look at what the Swedish ex-professional has to say about his pioneering legacy.

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Potti talks about his journey and how Ninjas in Pyjamas achieved the right team chemistry to set the most iconic streak

Potti during his playing days in the early 2000s (Image via Pontus Eskilsson / Fragbite)

Q: Ninjas in Pyjamas is an iconic team, a name that is now synonymous with a legendary status. As a fan, I’ll admit it was the name and the logo of a shuriken that initially had me hooked. You founded this team, and I’ve always wondered this: how did you come about this name exactly?

Potti: When I grew up, I always watched these martial arts movies, especially these really cheesy ninja movies. I always liked the theme of ninjas because of these movies. The first-ever professional team I ever played with had a super serious name called “Omega Force.” But the owner of the organization was a very unserious person, and we had this fight once and I said, “Screw it, I’ll start my own organization (and team).” I wanted to show that you can have the most unserious name as long as you are serious behind the scenes.

If you do your stuff right and you are a good team leader, it does not matter what name you have. So, growing up, I always loved ninjas and martial arts, but I also wanted to find an “unserious” name. Back then, there was an old TV show called Bananas in Pyjamas. My kid sister, who is nine years younger than me, was a huge fan of this show, and it was a really unserious kid show.

Back then, it was popular to have a short nickname (like a clan tag) that consisted of two or three letters. So, how do you find a three-letter word that is short and something that is also unserious? So one thing led to the other, and then you have Ninjas in Pyjamas.

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Q: You were recently inducted into the HLTV Hall of Fame. One day, you are forming your own team, and fast forward two decades and some more years, you’re a legend - it’s a dream come true for most players. From being a player to a living superstar, how does this transition feel?

Potti: I still get goosebumps every time I think about it really. When I started my esports career, nobody even heard of the name esports. It was obviously born before the 2000s, but it was much later when it actually became mainstream. So when I talked to people and I told them I was an esports pro back then, everybody was like, “How do you make money from playing computer games? That’s impossible.”

So being in this area as a pioneer, where you get to travel around the world, play tournaments, get a salary from them, simply by playing the game you love — every step of the journey was a dream come true. And then finally, when it became a global phenomenon where events started happening in arenas and so on.

I remember I was so proud because I did not play actively, but I was watching NiP play in Katowice (around nine years ago), and the arena was entirely full. Half of the arena was filled with NiP merchandise, and people were always shouting “NiP! NiP!”

To be able to come up with this name in a basement and then seeing this idea turn into a big global brand, where I will also become the world champion, it's a surreal feeling. It’s like everything I pictured and imagined when I started playing — a lot of it even exceeded my expectations.

I mean, my dream back in the day was obviously (and hopefully) that people are enjoying esports in an arena, millions of fans, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure if I was going to experience that in my lifetime.

But I always saw it coming to picture eventually, but everything happened so fast — it’s just super great. And then obviously getting the HLTV Hall of Fame honor — it means the world to me. It’s like all the hard work and the effort that I put back in the days to be recognized. All of it feels amazing.

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Q: Do you still play games as a competitive player?

Potti: I absolutely still do play computer games, unfortunately, not as much Counter-Strike as I want to. I mean, the older you get, it gets more difficult to maintain that kind of level in gameplay. It’s a strange feeling because if you’ve been one of the best in the world, and then you play casually, you’re just not mentally there. Obviously, you still want to be the best, but you just can’t put in the hours or the passion anymore.

I tried to play other games, though, and I played a lot of PUBG when it first launched. I was actually among the top 10 players in Europe in the first season, so I still had a pretty decent level of play during that time.

I also loved Warzone when it came out, but I hated when they nerfed the game to the ground and made it too console-based. I am a PC gamer myself, and I enjoyed it when it came out because you could play casually with a hint of competitiveness.

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Q: NiP is about to turn 25 years old this June. Starting from only Counter-Strike, NiP has expanded into more games like Rainbow Six Siege, FIFA, Valorant, and many more over the years. When you started the organisation, was venturing into multiple games a vision you had foreseen?

Potti: Obviously yes. When I started playing back in the day, Quake 3 was the biggest competitive game before CS took the center stage. I had a vision, obviously, but there were not many competitive games back then either.

But I definitely saw a future of it expanding it into a brand where it will be competitive in more games, basically. I’m glad that it happened faster than I had imagined and that I could experience all of it.

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Q: On that note, what do you feel about Valorant? It has the same fundamental shooter core that has set up a bustling esports scene as well. What are your views on Valorant within this FPS genre?

Potti: I loved it. I actually only tried it two times, but as an FPS player coming from Counter-Strike, you can really get into it very easily. I played this show tournament at an office where everyone knew the game and had a lot of hours, and I actually top fragged the match, although it was the first time I ever played it.

I guess I would not say that the transition from CS to Valorant is easy, but you feel like a lot of the mechanics are similar to help you ease in.

I feel like it is a very well-developed game, and if Valorant had co-existed at the same time Counter-Strike came out, I think it would have been really hard to pick and choose one. I understand why it is such a popular game and why it is growing, and Riot Games is doing a lot of great work.

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Q: You had won the first Counter-Strike Major (it was the CPL back then) with Ninjas in Pyjamas. I was just a year old at that time, so I did not get to witness it. However, the 87-0 streak in CS:GO was something I had witnessed. It’s one of the most elite and significant records that has ever been made in the esports and gaming scenario. What was the secret ingredient here, and how did NiP deal with this huge accolade?

Potti: You have to have a lot of key ingredients that have to fit in for the right purpose. If you look at the history of all sports, each of them has some “all-time greats.” And these all-time-greats have also lost a fair share of their matches, before or after they became a superstar.

When it comes to Counter-Strike, we have to obviously have to find the right chemistry in the team. Like, you can have five all-star players, and they can still have really bad chemistry, and it will never really work. Chemistry in the team is really important.

Another key factor is being able to set the same common goal. And once you take the first step and win a tournament, it is also super important to gain momentum and not lose. I even played with a lot of players who became overnight sensations really quickly. They win a tournament and feel like they’re the best and do not need to practice anymore.

I think NiP navigated around these and had the best chemistry possible in the team. The motto was something like, “I don’t want to win one tournament, I want to win as many tournaments as I can.” And once we win, we have to work harder because everybody is after us and our position, because everybody wants to be number one.

This means everyone else is also going to work hard, which means we have to…work even harder than before if we want to keep our position. We would have to change our strategies, our positions, look for places to improve and still maintain our team chemistry.

I once saw a quote or something that said, “Grit is one of the most important key elements to success.” This can be in any field, really, and I think we had a good team where everyone adhered to this gritty mentality. During my time, I was not the most talented one, but one thing I was always really good at was this grit part.

I refused to give up, focused my energy like 1000%, I tried to visualize that nothing is impossible and that you can achieve anything you want. And I think a combination of all these factors, with the right teammates and team chemistry, can make wonders like the 87-0 streak happen.

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Q: Counter-Strike has undergone a lot of transitions over the years. The most recent change from CS:GO to CS2 has not gone down as well. When the change from 1.6 to GO was made, a similar trend was seen, but players quickly warmed up to the latter. Do you think a similar scenario awaits CS2?

Potti: Change for a lot of people is something very strange. It will always get criticized to some extent, even if we pitch it to be the best improvement to ever have been made. Some people would still miss the old times and want to live in the past. The game is still very spectator-friendly, which was I think the best change with CS:GO from 1.6.

Personally, I wasn’t a big fan of CS:GO change itself back in the day. I thought that the shooting mechanic was off as compared to 1.6. But what I loved about GO and what people do not really remember is that it became so spectator-friendly.

And let’s be honest, Counter-Strike 2 might not be the best update in history, but at least it has some potential. If you, as a fan, do not have the possibility to spectate, it won’t be a big game. Looking at a game through the walls and visualizing where everyone is aiming - CS2 took one of CS:GO’s best features.

In that sense, CS2 is really good right now, but mechanic-wise, in terms of shooting and everything else, it still needs some major improvements. It was the same with CS:GO, some changes were good, some worse, and all of this is a part of the change process.

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Q: Since you still play sometimes, how is the current gaming community different from when you started out?

Potti: When I started, it was much easier to play because there was a massive local LAN community in my area. But right now I think it’s a two-edged sword.

When matchmaking came out, specifically in Counter-Strike, the player base skyrocketed because it was so easy to get a game and play with others. But I think it also came with some consequences. In most cases, you would be playing with nine other players in a match whom you might never see again, and this somehow created a really toxic environment since you can get away with anything.

I remember this one incident where I was playing CS:GO matchmaking, and I aced the pistol round but then I died to a deagle on the second round. Immediately three people in my team started shouting obscenities and statements like, “You suck.”

But right now, I think it’s getting better again, and developers are working hard to try and curb the toxicity. There are also a lot of other communities where you can find like-minded players to queue together with, you need to find the one that suits you the best.

There’s always going to be some toxic people who do not care and only want to spread negativity, and you need to filter these out. This is quite a long answer, but new gamers will eventually face these roadblocks, which often set them back.

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Q: What is one piece of advice you want to give to the new generation of gamers?

Potti: Don’t be afraid to set high goals and standards, and don’t let anyone tell you what you can do or cannot do. If I would have listened to 90% of the people in my journey, I would never have become a world champion or be where I am today. People might never believe in you, but you always need to believe in yourself. Don’t be afraid to accept your weaknesses and work to improve in that area.

I think that’s all the advice you need to take the next big step into the competitive gaming world.

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