Thorin published two videos breaking down his perspective on the recent legal dispute between Luminosity Gaming and SK Gaming and hoooo boy, you need to watch both of these videos and digest them. If you’re not already subscribed to him on YouTube, you should definitely hit that button while you’re there. Thorin’s video essay game is never not incredibly on point. (Reference to ‘incredible reference game’ incredibly on point.)
This first video sets up the entire situation using information from the ESPN article as well as first-hand accounts from the parties related to ESL and SK Gaming. While there is a lot of comments from FalleN and LG’s side of the disagreement, I think Jacob Wolf’s write-up of the situation could’ve used direct input from the figures on the SK/ESL/WESA side of things (and yes, WESA are involved in this, at some level approaching a favoristic, self-appointed arbiter). It’s not really Wolf’s fault–he got a no-comment from SK Gaming. What else could he do?
This is remedied by the response video as the enlightenment of Thorin’s SK connections allow for more dots to be connected, so to speak. However, make sure to take everything with a grain of salt, because you’re going to get all the salt you’d ever wish for in part two…
…where Thorin goes mental in more than simply one or two instances for completely legitimate reasons. His case, primarily founded on the lack of evidence that proper legal advice was being sought and the questionable representation of the team in these matters, is a pretty solid one. The last fifteen minutes of the overview contain the most compelling rebuttals towards FalleN’s record-straightening attempt posted to The Daily Dot.
The circumstances around this deal and hearing FalleN make the most basic mistakes possible are jaw-droppingly extraordinary. From not notifying LG ownership the moment they were approached by SK to demanding that Valve pay out the players’ share of the Major winnings directly to them instead of through their team’s financial system, it’s clear that Fallen was getting a little greedy with their newfound respect in the scene. Not to mention the other finer points about this deal, like the lawyer responsible for spearheading the SK Gaming acquisition is now the WESA interim commissioner or the unconfirmed reports that certain, former ESL power-brokers would ask a court to issue injunctions against LG’s current lineup if they were to not honor their new contracts with SK Gaming.
There’s too much dirt covering up what exactly is going on with this story and the likelihood that everything will be explained away as a misunderstanding between two esports organizations seems pretty small. Other leagues don’t see any problem with the situation, but the opposition connected to ESL/WESA seem to be considering any and all legal remedies available to them.
Perhaps we’ll see a bit of courtroom intrigue before all is settled in this matter.