WESA takes multi-ownership stance

14-3-2017 21:30

WESA has announced that it is cracking down on multiple team ownership under a new set of rules adopted by the federation.

The new comprehensive regulations, which come into effect immediately, include a Multi-Team Ownership Prohibition, under which "no team is permitted to be completely or partially owned or controlled by a person or entity that owns or controls another esports team or organization participating at WESA sanctioned events."

WESA takes firm stance on multiple team ownership

Teams who already have a pre-existing multi-team ownership in place may be granted "up to 18 months to come to compliance", WESA added.

"At WESA, we are committed to creating industry-wide standards in esports that benefit member teams, their players and the esports industry at large," said WESA Executive Chairman and Commissioner Ken Hershman.

"These new standards and regulations will further our goal of better professionalizing esports and ensure that all of our organizations are operating on the same level playing field."

This new rule is aimed at tackling what has become a major issue in esports in recent months. An investigation by The Esports Observer uncovered that ESforce Holding, the parenting company behind Virtus.pro, owns the media rights to Natus Vincere and two-thirds of SK Gaming's shares, raising concerns about a potential conflict of interest, which were played down by SK Managing Director Alexander Müller at the time.

Copenhagen-based esports marketing and media rights company RFRSH Entertainment also appears to be affected by the rule as it currently manages four teams: Astralis, Heroic, GODSENT, and Norse. In an interview with HLTV.org, RFRSH CEO and founder Nikolaj Nyholm stated that he does "not see a conflict" in multiple team ownership under the company's model, adding that "each team is and will be its own entity."

Virtus.pro and Na`Vi are both founding members of WESA, a federation created in May by eight esports teams together with ESL. WESA currently has just seven members after FaZe withdrew from the governing body, citing concern over the federation's ability to accomplish its mission statement.

The ESL Pro League is currently the only esports competition that is played under WESA regulations. Virtus.pro, Na`Vi, Astralis and Heroic compete in the Pro League's European division, while SK Gaming play in the North American division.

The new set of rules adopted by WESA include a Personal Code of Conduct, which establishes the "rules for behavior and conduct within WESA as well as with external parties", and a Sanctions Regulations, which "install a clear and unambiguous set of rules and methods for leveling sanctions, the permitted scope of any sanctions, as well as a process for appeal."

GG, rip RFRSH

2017-03-14 21:31

2 replies

What is holding them back from just creating a sister org to each team and then compete anyways?

2017-03-15 06:06

1 reply

Good question. Nothing. they are debiloids

2017-03-15 08:53

good to hear :)

2017-03-14 21:30

what is good exactly?

2017-03-15 19:17

liquid is the best team in the world

16 replies

NiP is the best team in the world*

2017-03-14 21:35

+1234567890 ily bro

nV is the best team in the world

2017-03-15 03:46

13 replies

stan>happy elige>scream jdm>sixer nitr0>rpk pimp>xms NT

2017-03-15 03:47

12 replies

Honest no bait rating: Happy>Stan (Happy finding form again, better IGL as well) Elige<ScreaM (I don't see Elige in top 10 players) Jdm=Sixer (jdm AWP is better but sixer is better on rifles and pistols) nitro=rpk (rpk too inconsistent, but nitro isn't too great) Pimp>xms (xms not experienced enough, needs to build gamesense) nV>Liquid

2017-03-15 03:51

11 replies

i'd say happy=stan, stan gets crazy impact frags and was quite important in optic's recent success, happy hasnt had big success like that in a long time elige<scream is definitely true, but elige is still a really good player. i'd say jdm at peak is defo better than sixer peak but maybe they are same rn nitro rpk is fair nitro been awful lately pimp xms agreed even tho i think pimp is overrated

2017-03-15 03:53

Happy>Stan because happy is a better IGL, they are pretty much equal frag impact wise

2017-03-15 03:55

Agree with happy, hes a detriment to his team and has been for a very long time. His "lurk" role is just him not helping out at all whilst his whole team die on the opposite side of the map and then him losing a 1vX. Elige>scream i think you can put elige on any team and he will outperform the rest regularly he is NA's last hope. JDM is fantastic, when he has an awp... otherwise not so great. But yea sfill jdm over sixer. Nitro and RPK are close as they are both incredibly solid, though id take RPK for sure even though neither have been particularly incredible lately... Pimp has his moments of brilliance and his moments of calamity but id still take him over xms

2017-03-15 10:26

french fanboy dectected LMAO nothing you said is true, if anything; jdm>sixer; ill take jdm all day elige>rpk; all day stan>happy; they do the same shit and stan is better nitro=xms; one is kinda good the other has no exp pimp<scream; pimp can honestly kick rocks that dude does nothing a "tier1 NA player" can't

2017-03-15 04:16

7 replies

NA fanboy detected

2017-03-15 04:17

6 replies

but am i wrong? when is the last time happy did anything besides telling shox to go kill people or kqly cheating?

2017-03-15 04:19

5 replies

Winning cluj napoca 2015, 2nd @cologne 2015, having a positive record vs liquid, winning last 2 matches played vs liquid, leading the team to winning countless tier 1 tournaments. Can't say the same for liquid to many of these things.

2017-03-15 04:21

4 replies

shox carried happy for all of that sorry and half the time he wasnt even igl

2017-03-15 04:23

For more than half of 2015 shox wasn't even with Happy... brainless NA fanboy

2017-03-15 04:24

just every event you listed

2017-03-15 07:14

"countless tier 1 tournaments" I think that, if you really try hard enough, you can indeed count the number of tier 1 tournaments Happy won. I sure as hell can count them with ease ;)

2017-03-19 19:30

WAT?

so faking good?wesa plz

Great :D

good

This is still a thing?

This could be big, could be a few new owners coming into the scene, or a few teams getting banned...

Wouldn't mind -SK-NaVi-Astralis tbh

2017-03-14 21:36

Most likely teams will just drop WESA.

2017-03-14 22:44

3 replies

Yea, most likely. So? Let them leave. Better for other organizations with potential and who maybe have a better understanding of how to solve the issue that eSports doesn't gain acceptance from political governments. To my knowledge the big organizations did an awful job so far. I understand the will to make profit but interviews where a CEO replies to a question if there is the possibility in eSport regarding promotion of youth, and his only sentence was something like "it's not profitable". This kind of expression is a pain in my ass tbh.

2017-03-14 23:39

WESA should have been a forum for Valve, the big event organisers and some player/org reps, representing all regions, to come together for the good of the game and scene. However, since its ESL's gig and just a few teams, it's not a unifying body; Thorin's video about WESA vs. PEA was interesting in that he showed how ESL weren't interested in sharing their turf (not saying that's wrong, just saying) If the exclusivity stuff from next year onwards is true that's also a bad thing

2017-03-15 01:30

Exclusivity is always wrong because it endangers the market's contest. So yea, I completely agree with your assertion as well.

2017-03-15 19:11

LOL WTF... literally dumb

2017-03-14 21:32

why did they delete my #1 comment? I wrote; Nice! ffs hltv :(

2017-03-14 21:33

I guess mom didn't get the camera on time

2017-03-14 21:38

lul

2017-03-14 22:20

thanks dad

2017-03-15 00:20

savage.

2017-03-15 01:46

SALTY ADMIN LUL I WILL TELL MR. JONATAN

2017-03-15 14:18

Professeur was salty because you've been faster than him :P

2017-03-14 21:43

Either this breaks apart WESA either new owners will come in, wonder what's gonna happen

ROLF! Now I understand why we have news about RFRSH! thank you HLTV, we appreciate that! We smart, we loyal, we friendly, we are from BRAZIL! Kreygasm

2017-03-14 21:37

this is retard, if some organizers want to give CS money why limit them to have just 1 team

There's also then owners of vp and navi people forget about

2017-03-14 21:39

BYEBYE WESA nice having you but sadly YOU ARE OUTTA HERE NOW SwiftRage

2017-03-14 21:40

In 18 months xd See ya in August 2018 guys

2017-03-14 21:41

honestly who gives a shit about this wesa cancer anymore

2017-03-14 21:44

Honestly, this is a terrible decision. In the current state of eSports, having an organisation that is willing to support multiple teams is a very good thing. It allows for smaller teams to work their way up by working together with already established teams. This is something that is necessary for a sport to grow. I strongly hope this decision is overturned, or boycotted by all multi-owners or even all owners to force WESA to change their stance.

2017-03-14 21:45

Except it leads to fishy outcomes and inevitable questioning when that same company hosts a tournament or the teams under it are facing.

2017-03-14 22:36

same could be said about ESL events with teams under ESFORCE.

2017-03-14 22:43

Yep and didn't epicenter have some questioning over it because of the host having ties with esforce or something? Maybe it's something relating to dota2 that Richard Lewis said I think

2017-03-14 22:56

i havent heard about that, you got a source? i wanna check it out.

2017-03-14 23:01

Nah, it was on a Richard Lewis podcast a while back - one of the ones that are like 2 hours long on average soooo... yea

2017-03-14 23:07

soooo what will happen

2017-03-14 21:47

good, now we dont need to listen to kids crying, NaVi lost because owners told them to, North lost because bla bla. Good job for once

2017-03-14 21:49

rip academy teams?

2017-03-14 21:50

Academy teams are at the moment nowhere close to qualify for EPL.

2017-03-14 22:16

These organizations are ruining E-Sports one retarded rule at a time.

2017-03-14 21:55

Well. In theory this is a good thing for the future I guess.

2017-03-14 21:57

omfg, this wesa lifts its nose over its own nimb always... my god

2017-03-14 22:14

Most likely teams will just drop WESA (ESL) rather than restructure themselves.

2017-03-14 22:45

lmfao, does WESA think csgo is a full-blown traditional sport? maybe consider that orgs owning multiple teams is because there isn't enough rich orgs interested in the game and you're just attacking the ones who are.

RIP VP/Na`Vi and SK - all parts of ESForce holding xD

2017-03-14 22:46

This could be a good move if there are tons of organizations vying to sponsor teams and throw in cash to manage them. Else, this could be a disaster in the making - teams will disband if they can't find a new sponsor and only a handful of wealthy owners will field teams at events. We can then directly start with playoffs instead of a group stage.

2017-03-14 22:48

The only good thing WESA did in its lifetime. Now they should deal with ESL and all of their shady bullshit business.

2017-03-14 22:50

but oh wait they can't do that because WESA is ESL's bitch.

2017-03-14 22:51

This is a good move for potencial new investors, not to the development of the game. But.. There is no problem. Obviously if the company's create small brands and seperatly Invest on the teams its legal..

2017-03-14 23:03

wesa is such a cancerous thing

2017-03-14 23:14

Wesa only involved in EPL. EPL so professional that they delay 8 matchs coz of no servers aviable. Coincidence?

2017-03-14 23:19

WESA should just disband lol. CSGO players want their rights and most of them won't give it up because being barred from non-major events doesn't mean much to them.

2017-03-14 23:35

all this companys RFRSH, WESA, ETC, are only here for the money and are trying to control cs, pleas GABEN just fuck them its your game not this retards.

2017-03-14 23:44

WESA prohibits multi-team ownerships. ESForce Holding owns VP and media rights to Na'Vi. VP and Na'Vi are founding members of WESA. ...What?

2017-03-15 00:40

WESA and ESL are cancer

2017-03-15 02:05

fuck these corporations. Just let my homies play games without getting your muggy fingers in it

2017-03-15 02:49

Rip Renegades

2017-03-15 03:23

It seems to be the most useless federation ever.

2017-03-15 06:28

This means RIP academy teams in EPL. I dont get why is everybody concerned about conflict of interest in multi-ownership orgs. Valve already banned IBP lifetime and nobody is willing to take this risk ever again.

2017-03-15 06:44

Same shit, different toilet. ESL and its exclusivity tricks in the guise of "there has to be order" because shit's too chaotic to control at the moment.

2017-03-15 09:14

Just everyone ditch WESA!

2017-03-15 12:03

THis is not good.

2017-03-15 12:10

hmm how about, no ?

2017-03-15 12:27

economically, this is a terrible decision. a conflict of interest must be in reasonable posibility. just because a company owns the rights to several esports organization does not mean that company also decides the internal affairs of said organizations. Organizations are isolated groups.

2017-03-15 13:47