On February 21, 2020, the heads of more than 12 ESports organizations from the CIS region met in Moscow. At the meeting, numerous of issues were raised, the solution of which should bring order to the disparate Dota scene. The results of the meeting, possible disagreements and facts of mistrust you can find in our material.
The main reason for such a large-scale meeting was the situation with former Natus Vincere player Bakyt “Zayac” Emilzhanov. Let us recall that the management of Virtus Pro freely picked up the former Navi captain right before the qualifiers for ESL One Los Angeles 2020, which literally divided the community.
Navi CEO Yevgeny Zolotarev in his interview noted that such behavior on the part of Virtus Pro is unacceptable and urged the organization’s management to be more decent. Subsequently, Eugene called a conference for the organization’s heads to discuss pressing issues.
The meeting lasted 6 hours and there were discussed: transfer issues, the maximum amount of redemption and sale of players, as well as possible sanctions. Unfortunately, on many issues the decision wasn’t made. For example, the issue of calculating the transfer cost remained unresolved. The organization’s management will continue to sell players at a price they consider acceptable.
In addition, the issue of “blacklists” for violators of transfer policy rules was brought up for discussion. Many supported the proposal, but Virtus Pro CEO Sergey Glamazda said It was “provocative” and “impossible”. Well, all the impracticability and provocation lies only in the fact that Virtus Pro themselves are able and effectively conduct an aggressive transfer policy aimed at achieving maximum results, despite the rules of decency.
In an extremely competitive e-sports market this policy takes place because the developers do not regulate transfer and financial rules in any way similar to those of FIFA. Unfortunately, the strongest survives and in this case it does not benefit entertainment, but on the contrary destroys competitive spirit.
Following the meeting, it was decided that clubs should now notify each other of the start of negotiations with the player, as well as of “ethical” periods for conducting all sorts of transfer negotiations. Now, “ethical” is considered the time after a major or after relegation from qualifiers
In fact, the meeting, as expected, ended in nothing, since no agreements, arrangements and collective acts were signed. The actual state of affairs eloquently notes the fact that no adequate decision has been made on the issues of real concern.
At the same time, the agreements reached during this session were canceled by the recent update of the official tournament system. They’re official and proposed by Valve. Now you can only officially change a player during the off-season, so this arrangement, unfortunately, does not make any sense.
The same applies to the agreement to notify organizations of the beginning of negotiations with the player. If the contract was drawn up correctly and there are no loopholes, as in the situation with Zayac, then it will be extremely problematic to withdraw a player from the team, if not impossible. In fact, this meeting ended with nothing for the CIS region.
Actually, it was difficult to expect anything more. Small organizations should have joined together to curb the aggressive policy of more financially secured clubs, but this could only happen in an ideal world, while in the real world this is not to be expected.
In General, ESports lacks some kind of rules legislator that would restrict the actions of clubs, thereby artificially creating rules for internal fair play. Otherwise, the current situation will never change for the better. Today’s condition of Dota scene literally kills competition and interest in the game.
New successful organizations can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and lamentations that there is only 1 strong team in the region or that the entire region is in decline are heard everywhere.
In General, the very fact that the club leaders have met already indicates that there are certain advances in this area. It gives hope that as a result, a stable and well-developed system can be formed that will take into account the internal characteristics of the industry and do everything possible to stabilize the situation. This is what Valve’s active involvement in the competitive Dota indicates.
