According to sources, Valorant Champions winners Evil Geniuses are being forced into a salary-cut by their own organization. The prestigious North American org tries to keep the roster together whilst cutting their pay-check in half.
Just a few weeks ago, Evil Geniuses won Valorant Champions in Los Angeles, claiming a prize of one million Dollars for the NA-based organization. Now, a report surfaced, that the org wants to reduce the player-salaries by almost 50 percent. The NA-roster shuffle is well on its way.
Evil Geniuses still want to keep their major-winning roster together and go to extreme lengths to retain their players.
Valorant Champions Winners Are Forced Into A Salary-Cut
As firstly reported by Valorant journalist Max Kratz, Evil Geniuses informed their players about a significant pay-cut and that the players are allowed to explore their options to join another team. This came as a surprise to plenty of people in the community, since Evil Geniuses just recently won Valorant Champions.
Sources: EG has let their starting roster explore their options. If they do stay with the org they would be subjected to a significant pay cut.#VCT
— Max Katz (@purest) September 11, 2023
But it seems like EG weren't too heartwarming to their players with this announcement. According to Richard Lewis, the organization is still keen on keeping their players, asking other organizations for a buyout of their players. This will make their players less interesting for other orgs.
Evil Geniuses Holding Their Players In A “Contract Jail”
The transfer window is almost at over, with qualifiers for the next Valorant Champions Tour beginning at the end of the month. Evil Geniuses are trying to force their players into accepting the salary-cut, promising a higher return from in-game cosmetic sales.
As reported by Richard Lewis, Evil Geniuses have declined buyout fees of $100,000 for Max “Demon1” Mazanov and Ethan “Ethan” Arnold as well as a market-value-meeting offer for In-Game leader Kelden “Boostio” Pupello from competitors like 100Thieves.
If no other organizations are keen on buying out a player with an active contract until 2024 above market value, the current Evil Geniuses roster have two options. Accept the proposed revenue-cut or get their contract terminated with immediate effect, if the organization agrees. The organization is trying to delay time, hoping that the NA-roster-shuffle madness finishes without any movement in the EG roster. In the meantime, they are effective holding their players hostage, forcing them to accept the salary-cut.
Two active players of Evil Geniuses have made Tweets that seem to be linked to this ongoing situation. Ethan “Ethan” Arnold tweeted:
I miss old esports
Where if you were good, you were on a good team
Where there was something to grind for, and if you did it successfully, you got to reap the benefits
Where winning was everything
His teammate and In-Game Leader Boostio had this to say:
Wow just fucking wow
— EG Boostio (@Boostio) September 11, 2023
According to a source close to Richard Lewis, Boostio wanted to leave Evil Geniuses prior to the pay cut announcement. Now, he is being held against his will at Evil Geniuses.
The players don't have many good options here. They can either stay at EG, accept the pay-cut and play for an org they have now potentially lost trust in. Or they could decline the offer, try to get dropped from EG, and hope for another team to sign them, since it doesn't seem like Evil Geniuses will accept a buy-out for their players.
Evil Geniuses are facing several other problems this year, including an ongoing legal battle with a former Dota 2 player, a CEO leaving after barely a year, and the Director of Athletics abandoning them for competitor Flyquest. This last year has hurt the reputation of Evil Geniuses to such an extent that the very future of the org is in now in doubt.