Developer Valve has singled out seven teams for the upcoming Rio Major in November. With overlapping ownerships and stakes for players, coaches and management Valve has demanded the seven teams to resolve these conflicts of interest.
Five months prior to the Major in Brazil developer Valve has reportedly issued an ultimatum to seven teams. As HLTV.org reports the teams need to resolve the conflicts of interest or might face disqualification from the competition.
Seven teams handed ultimatum by Valve over ownership conflict https://t.co/y2eRUGwi3D
— HLTVorg (@HLTVorg) June 8, 2020
Conflicts of interest
Prior to the already concluded ESL Road to Rio the competing teams had to declare and publish all the different ties between them and other organisations in the tournament. Back then Valve’s aim was to have “participating teams disclose existing conflicts of interest, and that those disclosures be made public so that the community can have an opportunity to discuss them.”
That was the reason why the entanglement between Brazilian teams mibr and Yeah was allowed although Valve had also publicly declared that “teams and players should not have any financial interest in the success of any team that they are competing against.” With the recent developments Valve has changed course as seven teams were singled out to dissolve the connections between them for the Rio Major.
Full list of conflicts:
- Epitácio “TACO” de Melo plays for mibr but is part-owner of Yeah
- Marcelo “coldzera” David plays for FaZe Clan but is part-owner of Yeah
- Wilton “zews” Prado coaches Evil Geniuses but is part-owner of Yeah
- Yeah and Immortals Gaming club, parent company of mibr have special transfer clauses between them
- Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund plays for dignitas but is part-owner of Ninjas in Pyjamas
- Tomi “lurppis” Kovanen, senior manager at Immortals also holds shares of ENCE
These conflicts are classified by Valve as a “danger to the integrity of the Major” according to HLTV’s report. A startling development as the developer had been fairly hands off before. Even when Astralis were heavily criticized for their ties to RFRSH Entertainment (organiser of BLAST Premier) during 2019.
If the reports are true Valve is turning to a zero tolerance policy in terms of ownership in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
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