There’s been a massive uproar in the Counter-Strike world over the last hour, with players, teams, organisations and commentators concerned following the formation of a new esports association.
With so little information publicly available, people feared that its formation could result in professional Counter-Strike becoming more like Call of Duty or League of Legends, where everything revolved around a centralised tournament or organisation. But the association at the heart of all the drama has come out to try and allay those concerns.
As written earlier today, the new body is called the World Esports Association. It’s made up of several European teams and ESL. The information publicly available suggested that WESA would be responsible for handling the teams’ commercial interests and image rights, while potentially limiting or dictating what tournaments those teams could be involved in.
There are still question marks over all of that. But an official Twitter account for WESA has come out late evening to calm fans, indicating that WESA’s intentions may be to act as more of a lobby or organisers union.
With regard to the speculation around WESA: it will not be an exclusive league but a body where teams and players have a significant voice.
— WESA (@WESAofficial) May 11, 2016
We understand there are a lot of questions. Please wait for the official announcement and press conference on Friday for details.
— WESA (@WESAofficial) May 11, 2016
The Twitter account has the same logo and branding as what was shown in the leaked poster image, although there’s no corroborating website or follow-up information to verify the account’s authenticity. The posts have been re-tweeted by senior ESL staff though, including their vice-president of professional gaming, global executive producer and global head of communications and public relations.
Given that ESL members — or members of Turtle Entertainment, which owns ESL — were listed as board members on the business register for WESA, it’s better than likely that this is the association’s official account. Michal Blicharz, VP of pro-gaming at ESL, also said that “there’s stuff to say” at the upcoming conference.
@M3lm0th @wesaofficial won’t comment until Friday, but there’s stuff to say.
— Michal Blicharz (@mbCARMAC) May 11, 2016
An exact time for the conference isn’t available, although it’s likely that it’ll be streamed late Friday or very early Saturday morning Australian time. When more information comes to light, we’ll keep you posted.
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