[jwplayer SZm0PqRr]100 Thieves’ Gamers For Equality charity event has been postponed after the org revealed Activision had denied their request to use Warzone in their tournament series, which was set to run in June and July.
The announcement came a day before the event was set to start the first of its four-week run on Thursday, June 18. 100 Thieves are still looking to organize the series, although they are now looking for “alternative solutions” to hold the event.
“Unfortunately, Activision has denied our request to use Warzone for this charity tournament so we’ll need to postpone Gamers For Equality,” they tweeted on June 17. “We hope to still host this tournament and are working to find alternative solutions,”
The “Gamers for Equality” competition was aimed to raise money for charity organizations working to advance racial equality and create systematic change.
Throughout the four-week series, they were planning on donating $100,000 for the cause while taking donations from audiences and partnering with multiple groups to organize the event.
Unfortunately, Activision has denied our request to use Warzone for this charity tournament so we'll need to postpone Gamers For Equality. We hope to still host this tournament and are working to find alternative solutions. https://t.co/rZAeYIMCQj
— 100 Thieves (@100Thieves) June 17, 2020
At the time of the announcement, the esports org revealed Cash App and JBL Audio as the supporting partners putting together the Gamers for Equality – Warzone series.
Esports insider Rod ‘Slasher’ Breslau said an impasse between Activision and 100 Thieves over the inclusion of Cash App as a sponsor had led to the Call of Duty publisher denying them permission to feature their game.
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He even went as far as to say, according to sources, that 100T’s decision to continue making announcements without consulting Activision was “likely to get the public on their side.”
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Sources: 100 Thieves was told by Activision that they could run a CoD charity tournament without a sponsor (CashApp) and 100T refused. sources tell me 100T made the original announcement without consulting Activision, likely to get the public on their side https://t.co/1BJwIbRM11
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) June 17, 2020
UPDATE – June 17 at 5:15 PM ET
Following this news, 100 Thieves CEO Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag addressed Activision’s decision and revealed that the publishers had concerns about the potential opportunities to monetize the charity event through a sponsored Warzone tournament.
“‘You guys can’t run this tournament with Cash App, you can’t run this tournament with sponsors and monetizing the tournament that you’re running,'” Nadeshot recalled before clarifying: “I just want to make it undoubtedly clear, we weren’t making money from this tournament.”
He noted the organic exposure that the tournament would naturally provide, but there weren’t any plans to monetize it “like [they] normally do with [their] sponsorships and the content [they] create.” Cash App had committed $100,000 to the cause and Nadeshot said they were tied to the charity, resulting in 100T being unable to drop the name.
Wanted to take a minute to clear up what happened with 100 Thieves, CashApp and Activision earlier today in regards to our $100,000 Gamers for Equality tournament. pic.twitter.com/d51EgZwFiM
— 100T Nadeshot (@Nadeshot) June 17, 2020
After the disagreement, Nadeshot and his organization accepted the decision and were already making plans to find another publisher and title to base their tournament series on.
The org has yet to announce new times for the Gamers for Equality event, or even whether or not it’s still going to happen, so we’ll continue to update you on the situation as more details become available.