A high-profile eSports team has been banned from taking part in ESL – the biggest pro league in gaming – because they’re sponsored by adult site YouPorn.
ESL’s bigwigs definitely wouldn’t approve of our list of PC’s best sex games.
Team YP, as they’re called, don’t exactly have a massive, erect dong emblazoned across their chest or anything like that. In fact, if you didn’t know that they were backed by the adult site, you probably wouldn’t realise what the “YP” stood for. Their logo is a sword and some mountains – no, not that kind of sword; and no, not those mountians.
Despite this, and despite the fact the team has since offered to even change their name – revealed in email correspondence acquired by VentureBeat – ESL say this isn’t enough. This decision will likely be a huge blow to Team YP.
“I am disappointed that Team YP’s growth is being stunted by this decision, not to mention the effect that this will have on our roster of players,” Team YP manager Claire Fisher told VentureBeat. “While for some, our participation in eSports has been controversial, stopping our players from competing because they are sponsored by us, in spite of Team YP operating as a completely SFW [safe for work] brand, clearly separated from any adult content, seems unfair to say the least.”
It seems like a strange decision, particularly as ESL host adult games such as CS:GO, but the company say they’re opposed to pornography for legal reasons.
“Advertising pornography is not legal in the markets we operate in, and the vast majority of partners we’re working with have strict ‘no drugs, no alcohol, no pornography’ rules that we’ve contractually taken on board,” an ESL spokesperson told Eurogamer.
“These aren’t new rules but ones that have been in our rulebooks for a long time. We have spoken to Team YP manager earlier this year, and in that conversation we’ve explained the situation and rules in detail and offered to look for potential alternatives in a bigger group. At the same time, we’re consulting with our legal teams about this. We will inform the team and the management as soon as we have any updates.”