Valve has filed a lawsuit against a Singapore-based tournament organizer for allegedly failing to pay the winners of two Dota 2 events it held last year. According to the suit, the company owes about $750,000 USD (about £577,000) in unpaid winnings and wages.
Dot Esports reports that Global Electronic Sports Championship ran two Dota 2 Minor tournaments last year, GESC Indonesia and GESC Thailand, according to Valve marketing vice president Doug Lombardi explains. Those tournaments were held in March and May 2018, but by the fall, GESC had failed to pay out prizes to the winning teams, and had also failed to pay contractors and on-screen talent who worked the event.
Those allegations were published in an open letter posted in October 2018, and Lombardi tells Dot Esports that Valve filed its suit with the High Court of the Republic of Singapore April 8 of this year. Further, Lombardi says Valve has severed ties with GESC.
“Our agreements with tournament operators require timely payment to participants,” Lombardi said. “We feel this is vital to the success of these events long term. When operators fair to meet those requirements, we follow up.”
The GESC tournaments in Indonesia and Thailand were both qualifying events for The International 2018, and included teams like Fnatic and Evil Geniuses. Those events also had $300,000 in prize money up for grabs as well.
Thank you Thailand for hosting the first ever Dota 2 Pro Circuit minor and a shoutout to the fans who came down to BITEC over the last 2 days. This wouldn't have been possible without the fans.
Once again congratulations again to VGJ.Storm @Team_VGJ— GES Championship (@GESChampionship) May 13, 2018
On its official website, GESC says its goal is to become “the leading eSports brand in Asia” and that “our fundamental goal is to create long-lasting value and impactful [return on investment] for GESC’s partners.”