And so it begins.
The World eSports Association has been the hot topic of discussion lately, but the newly-formed regulatory body has been hit with criticisms as players, industry veterans and even several media outfits raised their concern about its capability to raise the profile of professional competitive gaming.
Now, IGN has reported that one of the association’s member teams is allegedly leaving WESA, barely a week after it was formed.
Sources told IGN’s Kevin Knocke that FaZE Clan organization is willing to pay $50,000 in penalties “due to early demands of exclusivity by ESL.” ESL, which founded WESA, is one of the biggest eSports organizations currently out there.
The report claimed that ESL has been “pressuring teams to exclusively partner with WESA, and FaZe wanted to retain their current representation.” FaZe is known as one of the biggest teams in Call of Duty, which is not included in ESL.
The source told the news outlet that FaZe had already informed WESA acting commissioner Petro Fringuelli about its plans to leave the association, potentially dealing a blow to WESA’s dream of standardization and regulation of eSports.
The governing body was given the task of coordinating tournament schedules and player contracts as well as preventing incidents of cheating, match-throwing and doping among players. The launch of the self-appointed governing body, however, raised many eyebrows partly due to its goal of raising the profile of eSports using a framework based only on “fairness, transparency and integrity.”
FaZe is expected to announce its departure from WESA next week, and it’s only a matter of time before other member teams—Fnatic, Natus Vincere, EnVyUs, Virtus.Pro, Gamers2, mousesports, and Ninjas in Pyjamas—face similar exclusivity issues since most teams have their own agreements with talent agencies to represent their brands.
After all, WESA plans to look after the “bundling of sporting and commercial interests of” its member teams, according to the association’s public business listing.
