The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had a considerable impact on the video game industry, particularly the esports sector with games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), League of Legends, and Dota 2. With events getting cancelled or moved online, there is an added responsibility on teams and organizations to set and enforce COVID-19 policies to ensure the health and safety of players, staff, and the wider community.
American esports organization Cloud9 has terminated the contracts of players Johnny "JT" Theodosiou, Ian "motm" Hardy, Aran "Sonic" Groesbeek, and coach Tiaan "T.c" Coertzen over breaching COVID-19 safety clauses. The members reportedly invited a guest to the Cloud9 team house in Los Angeles without permission, violating the team's COVID-19 policy. This policy was violated twice, with the first time leading to written and verbal warnings and the second time now leading to termination. The members were part of the org's CS:GO roster.
In a statement to Rush B Media, Cloud9 CEO Jack Etienne said the following regarding the terminations: "The details that really matter is this was the second offence of unauthorized guests coming into Cloud9 property after being told that this is not all acceptable. And the reason it is not acceptable is because you are putting our staff at risk." Each of the four members have made tweets announcing their free agencies, with Cloud9 retweeting some of these tweets and Etienne endorsing teams to pick up T.c and motm.
JT, Sonic, and T.c are South African nationals which means that their P-1 visas will expire after 30 days. If they do not find another American org to sign for, the three will have to return home. With COVID-19 hitting the CS:GO scene quite heavily, notably leading to the cancellation of the Rio Major, it is disappointing to see these members place the org at risk during such a dangerous time, especially considering how the contracts were breached twice.
Ironically, Cloud9 was involved with fundraising for COVID-19 response and awareness earlier this year (albeit through their League of Legends division). The virus has hit Los Angles County hard, where Cloud9 operate, with around 300,000 cases and nearly 7,000 deaths as of this time of writing.
With there being no end in sight to the pandemic, especially in the United States, orgs will still have to remain vigilant in setting and enforcing their COVID-19 policies. The termination of most of Cloud9's CS:GO roster for breaching their contracts in this particular manner is an anomaly in this space, with other orgs not having similar issues. Though this event has happened, Cloud9 still maintains a full CS:GO roster having recently signed Patrick "es3tag" Hansen and Joshua "oSee" Ohm remaining a part of the team.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is available on PC.
Source: Rush B Media