- Halo pro Spartan claims eUnited denies him to look for other opportunities
- Ex-CS:GO players support his claims by recounting similar stories they’ve had with eUnited
- The organization denies these claims
As professional Halo Infinite player Spartan keeps himself benched in protest of eUnited allegedly “keeping him hostage with the contract”, ex-eUnited players tell stories supporting his claims.
The Rift Between Spartan and eUnited
Drama in the esports world is unfortunately not something new, and it seems it has not passed by HCS pro Spartan, who recently benched himself from eUnited after controversies with the organization. The drama in question arose when the Halo Infinite pro player accused the organization of holding him from exploring opportunities in different rosters, a statement eUnited denied.
However, former eUnited players from the org’s CS:GO team have come forward to defend Spartan, bringing their own damning statements to the whole drama. For example, Austin “Cooper” Abadir, a retired CS:GO pro who played for eUnited between 2018 and 2020, told of his contract buyout, which he claims was over $500 000.
“My buyout was like 500k+, wrote Cooper on Twitter, “or straight-up refusing to sell me to better teams as well as telling the other players on the team that another team was interested was really cool.”
Other players who have previously played for eUnited supported the claims that the organization might be engaged in somewhat unethical practices. This includes Michael “Dapr” Gulino, who played for eUnited between 2018 and 2019. He claimed he was denied a trial in a different roster because was too important for the team, only to be cut two months later.
Two other players who played during the same period – Pujan “FNS” Mehta and Anthony “Vanity” Malaspina- spoke about more general issues with the organization. FNS replied to Cooper’s tweet saying “Remember when our GM decided to put all 5 players in a room just to shit on each other? I learned exactly what not to do from this guy. Horrific decision making.”
Meanwhile, Vanity added that the players once were told they didn’t deserve more bootcamps because the roster was forced to use a stand-in, because eUnited couldn’t get someone a visa on time.
eUnited is denying these claims, saying Spartan's words are inaccurate. The organization has put forward conflicting claims, ultimately making it hard to get to the truth of the matter. However, with the newest statements by all these ex-players, the organization is now under more pressure to prove it has not been involved in unethical practices.
The HCS Pro Series is starting up again at the end of the month and it seems Spartan will continue to keep himself benched despite the drastic reduction in pay. “Believe what you want and who you want,” Spartan tweeted before opting to take a social media break. “Choice is up to you.”
