Owen thrives on the thrill of competition, particularly in Valve titles. He reached a peak of 8,500 MMR in Dota 2 and remains a regular contender on the Southeast Asian leaderboards. Beyond his main forte, he has extensive experience in the Counter-Strike 2 esports scene and a deep understanding of esports betting.
Olivia Richman is a seasoned esports journalist who has worked with Inven Global, Esports Illustrated, Esports.gg, and more. As an editor and writer at Esports Insider, she loves telling unique esports stories, especially within the FGC. When not working and gaming, Olivia loves collecting Kirby plush, eating sushi, and driving her cars at the track.
It’s no secret that people working in esports have faced payment delays before, and we’ve been reminded of that fact multiple times this week alone.
First, an artist going by “EDICH” who previously worked on Dota 2 merch for some of the biggest events in esports, including The International’s Secret Shop and ESL tournaments, published an open letter on Reddit claiming he has not received his royalties after two years.
Then, professional fighting games player 2eZ publicly accused ZEDI Esports of failing to pay players while continuing to operate and sign new rosters. They also warned others against joining the organization.
FRADULENT ORG TLDR; Normally I wasn’t going to post anything, as everything is being handled in the backend, but seeing as how this team is still functioning like normal, with a fresh APEX EWC qualified team pick up, I felt inclined to say something to hopefully save the future…
While these stories suck to hear, neither really surprised me. Payment disputes and delays have been one of esports’ most persistent problems for years. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a player, tournament winner, caster, artist, editor, writer, photographer, or freelancer… Chances are, you’ve experienced a payment delay yourself or at least know someone who has.
If cases like these keep happening every other week, it’s pretty hard to take esports as a serious industry.
Payment disputes happen everywhere in the world and in every industry. However, the main issue in esports is how many different stakeholders in the scene experience them. And how often.
We have seen Tier 1 tournaments failing to pay six-figure prize pools and salaries. Months ago, Esports Insider also covered a story on freelance League of Legends caster Antonis “Rev” Stepchenko not getting paid out.
It’s crazy that we have this, but we literally have an entire debt-tracking spreadsheet in the Dota 2 scene where people who haven’t been paid can jot down how much money they’re owed. Though not everyone listed specific amounts, the amounts included already added up to a reported $3.7 million.
In most industries, unpaid wages are viewed as major failures. In esports, they kind of feel like recurring rites of passage.
It really doesn’t matter if you’re a small-time freelancer or a person who won a huge LAN tournament and played for some of the biggest esports teams – payment issues can happen to anyone.
Having worked as an esports freelancer for over five years, I’ve definitely noticed that many business relationships operate very differently from your traditional industries.
I’ve done my fair share of esports jobs, and I can tell you most of my deals have actually been conducted through Discord – the same platform that lets you pay for animated feet on your profile.
Other than Discord, contact…