E-frag comments on TWC 2016 prizes

In a Twitlonger post, E-frag.net reveals that it has taken Azubu, one of the main sponsors of the tournament, to arbitration after the streaming company allegedly failed to honour its contractual obligations, which included paying out the prize money after the event.

TWC 2016 took place from October 5-9 in Belgrade, Serbia, with Turkey winning the lion's share of the tournament's $100,000 prize pool after defeating Argentina in the final.

Earlier on Tuesday, Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller, who represented semi-finalist Denmark, took to Twitter to reveal that players had not yet been paid. According to the tournament's rulebook, all prizes were to be paid within 90 days of the event.

Azubu allegedly told E-frag that it does not have the funds to pay out the tournament's prize money, even though it recently acquired streaming rival Hitbox in a deal reportedly worth "tens of millions of dollars". The two companies have since merged to form Smashcast, but, according to a video blog by Richard Lewis, Azubu still owes money to several streamers and content creators.

"They [Azubu] asked us to accept a very small amount of the money owed and that we must tell the teams we had the prize pool paid to us," E-frag claimed.

"Azubu has been telling us that they do not have funds even though they recently purchased Hitbox for millions. Azubu denied buying hitbox when our lawyers spoke to them.

"The reason we have not yet gone public with this is in favour of reaching a mutual agreement with Azubu through our lawyers who advised us to not go public

"We have a full commitment to pay any prize pool we promise any team and to this date we have never refused to pay anyone money that is owed unlike a lot of other companies in the space who continue to thrive [while] owing thousands.

"We hope that we will be able to resolve this in arbitration but if not we will pay the pool through our own funds regardless.

"It's a very shameful situation to be in and we deeply apologise for breaking your trust in us, but in this matter it is truly out of our hands. We had a contract signed by law and are currently paying thousands in legal fees to enforce it."

The news of outstanding payment will certainly dent TWC's reputation. The second edition of the tournament already had a weaker talent pool compared to the debut season, which saw a star-studded France lineup led by Vincent "⁠Happy⁠" Schopenhauer secure first place.