MIBR, FaZe, EG and ENCE Among Other Teams Called Out by Valve Over Ownership Conflict

• Valve gives an ultimatum to 7 CS:GO teams to resolve the conflicts of interest which were identified at ESL One: Road to Rio tournament.
  
  
• The teams have been granted five months to resolve these issues.
  
  
• The 3 conflicts of interest identified by Valve have been mentioned below and involve famous players like TACO, coldzera, GeT_RiGhT, and more.

ESL who had earlier stated that they were “currently seeking clarification” on the several conflicts of interest cases that were brought to their notice, involving multiple players and organizations participating in ESL One: Road to Rio tournament, seems to have taken a bit too long to respond as Valve has given seven teams a time period of five months to resolve these conflicts, according to a report by HLTV.

[Also Read: Valve Reportedly Releases Modified Alpha Version of the Steam Client for China]

The three cases identified by Valve are as follows,

1. The biggest of the three involves the Brazilian CS:GO organization Yeah which is jointly owned by four individuals namely, Epitacio "TACO" de Melo (MIBR), Ricardo "dead" Sinigaglia (MIBR), Marcelo "coldzera" David (FaZe Clan), and Wilton "zews" Prado (Evil Geniuses).
   
   Here the conflict of interest lies in the fact that all the four individuals while being the co-owners of Yeah are currently associated with other teams, all of which are trying to qualify for the same CS:GO Major.
   
   Also, MIBR’s parent company Immortals Gaming Club (IGC) in exchange for a fixed annual fee have the freedom to buy out a maximum of two players from Yeah in a single calendar year at a fixed price.
   
   
2. A warning has also been issued against Dignitas player Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund for owning a minority stake in NiP.
   
   
3. Finally, Tomi "lurppis" Kovanen who is a former Finnish Counter-Strike player has also been told to resolve his conflict of interest, of being a senior member of IGC while also having a minority stake in ENCE.

Valve has taken a firm stand against these breaches of conflicts of interest, the teams have time until the next Major which is scheduled to take place in November later this year. In case these conflicts haven’t resolved by then, the teams will be barred from playing in the Majors.

Valve seems to be adamant on enforcing a zero-tolerance policy against such acts once again after witnessing a period of leniency in the past few months. It has previously spoken on the topic once and this open declaration to several teams and members seems to be a clear indication of Valve wants to proceed on this matter.

[Also Read: ESL to Evaluate the Conflicts of Interest Reported at ESL One: Road to Rio]