- Because of a sponsor who pulled back, Hardcore Gaming had to delay its inaugural CS:GO Masters tournament
- The postponement caused the salaries of talents and players to be delayed
- HCG claims it is doing its best to resolve the situation and pay everyone as soon as possible
HCG’s postponed CS:GO event caused controversy as the company failed to pay the staff on time. The organizers are trying to make things right.
HCG Masters’ Postponement Made Things Difficult
Numerous Counter-Strike: Global Offensive talents and athletes have been left without a salary because of the delay of the Hardcore Gaming Masters tournament. It had a prize pool of almost $200,000 and was a promising CS:GO event. Sadly, the organizers met with financial troubles and couldn’t proceed with the LAN stage in Portugal.
The people behind the event spoke to Esports News UK and shared that they had suddenly lost a sponsor, which endangered the tournament. Trying to find a quick fix, the organizers appealed to their investor, asking for more money. The latter, however, demanded more equity, which didn’t sit well with the organizers. In the end, they preferred to indefinitely postpone the tournament.
The delay left numerous talents unpaid and angry. Many of them are desperately looking to find another job during the same dates as the postponed event. To mitigate some of the damage, the HCG’s executive director Ferenc Kern said that he will use his own property as collateral for loans to make sure the talents are eventually paid.
HCG Reasserted that Everyone Will Be Paid
Despite the promise of eventual pay, many talents remain disgruntled by the situation. As of the time of this writing, at least one caster and at least one production team member have received their pay, Esports News UK reported.
Atilla “SiCKB” Ferenc Kern, son of Ferenc and event manager at HCG, is constantly trying to keep staff updated and solve tricky situations. He has confirmed that the staff will be eventually paid on multiple occasions.
While HCG claims to be doing its best, some of the unpaid talents have reported that the organizers have failed to properly connect with them, have been behaving unprofessionally, and have even lied about the payments.
HCG defended itself by saying that it offered talents to pay 50% of their salary before the start of the event. The organization emphasized that none of the workers opted to send an invoice back then.
CS:GO players are still pending their payments. Upon the postponement of the event, HCG promised that it would pay teams based on their position in the event but that is still yet to happen.
The Organizer Hopes to Clear Its Name
Despite the difficulties caused by the sponsor who pulled back, HCG is hopeful about the future. The company wants to scale its business and host esports events in numerous games. In an interview with Esports News UK, Ferenc Kern admitted that HCG started on the wrong foot.
He regrets the situation and said that he is currently doing everything possible to make things right. Kern explained that a few people have already been paid which reassures him that the company “didn’t screw anything up.” He promised to keep the unpaid staff updated.
Kern also added that HCG has found a new investor and will soon launch a See A funding round. He will also proceed with the loan he has planned to make sure that everyone involved in the canceled event has been paid. While things are not happening as quickly as he had hoped, Kern is bullish on clearing HCG’s name and one day becoming a top-tier event organizer.
