As 2015 wraps up, it’s time to acknowledge some of the biggest moves made in the industry to date. From roster buyouts to format changes to investments, here’s our top 10 esports business moves for 2015.

Riot bans Renegades owner Chris Badawi

Everything was looking good for the Renegades, a team founded by Chris Badawi, co-owned by commentator Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles, and led by one of the most renowned players in League of Legends, Alex “Ich” Ichetovkin. However, a surprise ruling by Riot Games against Badawi, finding him guilty of attempted poaching—confirmed by a number of conflicting reports—saw him banned for an entire year.

The move by Riot speaks volumes about the future of the LCS, and professional League of Legends in general. A Breitbart report in October outlined a possible move to a franchised system under Riot, where the developer would own the actual league spots and lease them to teams. If true, this ban on Badawi is just the beginning—a power move to set the tone for future intrusive, Riot-favored changes.

WME | IMG acquires GEM

Global Esports Management, the brainchild of Tobias “Tumba” Sherman and Min-Sik Ko, was a powerhouse behind the scenes of the esports industry—an agency representing some of the biggest names in the game. So, when GEM got picked up by WME | IMG, a massive sport and entertainment talent agency, everybody paid attention.

Only time will tell how big this partnership gets, but one particular point much further down this list suggests that it’s going places—and fast.

Unikrn attracts big-name investors in Mark Cuban and Ashton Kutcher

Name-dropping is rapidly becoming the name of the game when it comes to esports investors, and to date, nobody does it better than Unikrn. The esports betting site is quickly making waves within the industry—including supporting all-female “Team Unikrn.”

However, the biggest news from Unikrn came in the form of who was getting in on the action. Mark Cuban, who later this year went on to play in a League of Legends showmatch at IEM San Jose, and Ashton Kutcher highlight one of the most impressive investor lists esports has ever seen.

ESL initiates drug testing

Sometimes, playing games isn’t all fun and games. Following a disastrous report that one of the top Counter-Strike teams had been abusing Adderall at one of its tournaments, ESL implemented one of the first drug testing policies in esports.

Many quickly jumped to attack and defend the contentious policy change, but one thing was certain—rumors of pro gamers addicted to illegal drugs hitting the mainstream media is a sure way to tank any good reputation esports has. ESL responded accordingly, whether you agree or not, and its drug testing program is sure to be a benchmark used for years to come.

ESPN airs Heroes of the Storm on live television

It’s not the first time esports has been on TV, but it’s definitely one of the biggest and most recent. Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm is still developing as an esport, but that didn’t stop the developer from partnering up with ESPN to air its “Heroes of the Dorm” tournament on actual live television.

Despite being relegated to ESPN2, and despite the massive backlash from sports “traditionalists,” the show drew plenty of positive feedback from various elements of mainstream media, along with cheers from those inside the esports industry. A small step, for sure, but one that promises more to come.

Venture capital-funded Immortals buys into LCS

Buying your way into esports isn’t the only way in, but when it comes to private investors, we’ll give them a break. There’s been tons of investors that entered the scene this year, but none shouted “Ride the wave!” as loudly as Immortals, a newly-formed team that just bought its way straight into the League Championship Series.

With backers like Peter Levin, president of Lionsgate Interactive Venture and Games; Allen Debevoise, co-founder of Machinima; and Steve Kaplan, co-owner of the Memphis Grizzlies, there’s no telling where the Immortals hype train will end. Oh, and did we mention Linkin Park? Yeah, they invested in Immortals, too.

Riot changes LCS and CS tournament format

A combination of changes to the League of Legends pro format left many scratching their heads, but to us, it all made great business sense. In the LCS, North America is moving to a Bo3-format, while Europe moves to Best-of-2s. The inconsistency may bug some people, but it definitely reflects the viewership that each region receives.

And then, of course, there’s the massive changes to the Challenger Series, which include the inclusion of national leagues and implementation of Qualifier Tournaments. It may be causing some frustration to those whose way into the pro leagues just got harder, but as we summed it all up: “Business before competition.”

DraftKings & FanDuel get into esports

Daily fantasy has been huge this year, whether it’s been making headlines for having ad placement just about everywhere, or whether it’s been making headlines for having states outright outlaw the online activity.

Nevertheless, that hasn’t stopped DraftKings and FanDuel from getting in on some sweet esports action. FanDuel stepped up early by acquiring AlphaDraft, an esports daily fantasy site. Meanwhile, DraftKings added esports daily fantasy, and got into the sponsorship game as well, with big names like Team SoloMid, Cloud9, and Counter Logic Gaming.

Turner launches CS:GO tournament “ELEAGUE”

Remember WME | IMG and GEM? Well, they struck gold later on this year when they teamed up with Turner to create what is sure to be one of the biggest names in esports moving forward, ELEAGUE.

The Counter-Strike tournament starts next year, but come on—it’ll be televised on TBS, it’ll feature one of the fastest-growing esports around, and, oh yeah, they got Shaq to announce it. If getting Shaq to announce something isn’t a power move, I don’t know what is.

MTG acquires ESL and DreamHack

And finally, the top power move in esports business for 2015? Well, it’s simply putting money where your mouth is.

Modern Times Group, a large international media company based in Sweden, told us that they were interested in esports as a new opportunity to attract a younger audience. So when the company’s accelerator finally decided to get in, it got in big.

First, it bought 74% ownership in ESL, arguably the largest and farthest-reaching esports company on the planet. Then, it followed up by purchasing all of the ownership for DreamHack, inarguably the largest live gaming event on the planet.

Combined, it’s one of the most powerful partnerships esports has ever seen, and even has many fearful of exclusivity contracts that would ice out the rest of the competition. Still, MTG says that it doesn’t plan on changing much: “there is no reason to interfere in their day-to-day operations.” That kind of trust is hard-earned, but welcome news to ESL and DreamHack fans.

Still, with ESL and DreamHack now under the same ownership, the sky’s the limit when it comes to potential possibilities for MTG’s holdings. When it comes to power moves, nothing speaks louder than going big.