Blake

I never told my story about leaving ESL. Here it is: I resigned from my role as General Manager of ESL Australia after disputes with a Regional Director over a conflict of interest in the LCO - whereby an owner of the league had financial ties to Dire Wolves, a team in the league, and also managed by Spiller. Dire Wolves players made several complaints to the league complaining of mistreatment, particularly nonpayment, ongoing for many months at that stage. I have seen many dodgy things in esports over the years, but I really couldn’t stand kids (to me) being ripped off by these big orgs and in particular ones that had shady ties to league owners (*cough* Guinevere *cough*) We, being the LCO project leads, league management, etc, tried to enforce rules and take action against the team. Ultimately, this lead to looking into kicking the Dire Wolves out of the LCO. After many warnings, I personally reached out to Riot to ask for their approval to boot the team and they responded with, and I quote, “Go get ‘em”. It was at this time that I had a meeting with the co-owner of the league, from Guinevere, to tell them I’m kicking Dire Wolves out. They immediately contacted my direct manager, who called me from half way around the world to request a “tools down” on the LCO topic. From that point I was taken off everything LCO. From my perspective, the LCO, particularly Guinevere, ESL senior management and Dire Wolves management, including Spiller, were complicit in ripping off their own players, and trying to bury it, downplaying the seriousness of the issue. My regret is I never shared the true reason I left ESL. Good riddance to Arcanist, a key player in ripping off people in ANZ esports. stuff.co.nz/nz-news/36084568…