A Counter-Strike: GO professional player voiced his support for the rights of players. Due to this, he was kicked off his team.
According to digital media website Mashable, Sean Gares was a member of Team SoloMid, a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive eSports team. Now he no longer has a team. Twenty-five North American CS:GO players signed an open letter that was published. The letter was about the rights of players in the Professional Esports Association (PEA) league.
The players were from five different CS:GO teams, including Gares' team. After the publication of the letter, CEO of Team SoloMid, Andy "Reginald" Dinh told his player Gares that he was going to replace him.
The open letter discussed the issues that players had with the PEA. It detailed the lack of transparency between the league and the players. The letter mentioned that the league attempted to block players from participating in a similar league, ESL Pro League.
After the letter went public, Dinh contacted Gares. He told Gares that he should have communicated with him first. The two did not agree on the matter but Gares agreed with Dinh that it was better for them to part ways.
Gares shared their conversation online. He posted on Twitter that Dinh had told him that TSM was going to replace him because of his connection to the players' rights letter.
Gares reportedly said that he no longer felt safe or comfortable with Dinh's organization so he agreed with Dinh that it was best for them to part ways. Dinh agreed and said he would have his lawyer draft a termination agreement.
Dinh also released a statement that said Gares had manipulated other TSM players into signing the letter without knowing what it was about. This was Dinh's response to the issues regarding the open letter about the PEA and the resulting removal of Gares. Gares had just joined TSM a week before the open letter was published. He denied Dinh's accusations.
He said that his teammates were not manipulated by anyone. Gares also mentioned that he had spoken to Dinh before the publication of the open letter to air the players' feelings and actions regarding the PEA.
The four other GS:GO players of TSM supported the statement of Gares that no one had manipulated them. They released a statement that said in no way were they manipulated by Sean.
They said that some of the players probably knew more than others about the issues. There were also some who were more involved in standing up for their rights. They said however that everyone who signed the letter still understood what they were doing.
Gaming website PCGames N reported that the PEA has released its own open letter written by the CEO of the Immortals team, Noah Whinston, in response to the players' open letter. The PEA's letter tries to explain the PEA's side as well as refuting the complaints of the players.
The publisher of the players' open letter and PEA players representative, Scott "SirScoots" Smith responded to the letter of the PEA with a few counterpoints. Whinston then replied as well to Smith's comments. Both sides have cited communication issues between them as one reason for their problem.
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