There was a time in recent memory when playing video games was deemed nothing more than an indulgent pastime – and a wasteful one at that. However, the incredible rise of eSports – and the attendant increase in eSports betting – has turned what used to be a leisure activity into a multi-billion-dollar industry.
The value inherent in the eSports sector came to the forefront once again this May, after it emerged that Ninjas in Pyjamas – or NiP, one of the most successful eSports teams in the world – were in a legal dispute worth millions of dollars over the money raised from the sale of Counter Strike: Global Offensive (or CS:GO, one of the most popular eSports games) stickers in 2021. Confused? Don’t worry. This article will tell you everything you need to know.
Who are NiP?
Ninjas in Pyjamas are an eSports organisation based in Sweden. Founded in 2000, they competed in lucrative tournaments in Counter Strike, winning several of them and claiming significant prize kitties, until their dissolution in 2007. However, with the launch of CS:GO in 2012, the team reformed and have excelled in the discipline ever since, as well as entering teams into FIFA, League of Legends and other eSports competitions.
Why are they in dispute with their players?
The 2020 CS:GO major was scheduled to be held in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, but due to a high incidence of coronavirus cases in the country at the time, the event was ultimately cancelled. However, Valve had already released in-game capsules and put them up for sale. It is the proceeds from these sales that are in dispute, since one former NiP player – Tim ‘nawwk’ Jonasson – has claimed that he and other players are due a share of the earnings.
What do the rules say?
The specific regulation to which Jonasson is referring when he makes his claim is the following, as stipulated in section 5.4 of the contracts signed by all players:
“[The] Team shall receive 16.67% of the team stickers money earned by the Player. The Player shall receive the remaining 83.33% of the team stickers money divided with his teammates.
The Player shall allocate 2% of the Player’s stickers money to a marketing fund dedicated to the CS:GO team.
Team shall when receiving the stickers money deduct and transfer to a dedicated bank account. The funds shall be spent on initiatives approved by the CS:GO team. Minimum four (4) members of the CS:GO team have to approve how the monies are spent.
The Player shall receive 100% of the individual stickers money, which is allocated to the players.”
Judging by this piece of text alone, it does seem as though Jonasson may have a case, especially since NiP have admitted that they did not distribute the proceeds from the sales of the stickers to their players.
What do NiP say?
In response, the chief operating officer (COO) of NiP Jonas ‘calc’ Gundersen has spoken out to address the concerns. He had this to say:
“I understand there’s a lot of talk floating around the ‘stickers’. We’ve talked about this earlier, but it seems people have forgotten. These were ‘Capsules’ created by the teams, and Ok’d by Valve, in order to survive the pandemic and keep paying salaries without any cuts, despite the complete lack of sponsorships and exposure.
Therefore it’s not stickers as it would be normally – because there was no major. This was a desperation move for many teams because elseway [sic] something like half would have pulled out of CS:GO altogether.
“I know many teams treated this differently and some paid portions out to the players – we opted not to do that and keep salaries intact and the business running normal, adding more support staff around the team to make it an even better place to win majors. There’s also very different contracts on teams based on the normal sticker money, where you guys get almost 100% and either way everyone does things individually.”
Clearly, the two parties are at loggerheads and it’s not obvious which of them is correct in this instance. As such, it must fall to Valve to step in and settle the dispute amicably so that all parties can move forward without any resentment or feelings of injustice. Watch this space.
