“I dream of working in esports full-time again without being in a continuous state of crippling anxiety:” NLC is just one example of a huge issue in the esports industry

It’s honestly really hard to keep track of which esports entity owes what to whom at this point, and that’s the problem. It feels like there is a new “I didn’t get paid” tweet almost every month from a player, caster, or staff member aimed at team or tournament organizer.

One of the latest fiascos was with the Northern League of Legends Championship (NLC), which was called out by multiple esports professionals for extremely late payments (if they got any at all) and firing popular casters. We covered this back in February when Leagues.GG responded to the controversy, but it still looks a bit questionable.

Last month, Leagues.gg shared that the NLC failed to secure a “sufficient commercial return,” so they needed to secure additional funding. Apparently, this is why the payments were late. Although it doesn’t really explain away the silent treatment towards those waiting for the payments – for years.

Leagues.gg stated that it has settled all the original invoices after receiving additional financial support. The organizer did decline to pay some late fees, including one requested by Antonis “Rev” Stepchenko. It was a mere $46, and NLC didn’t outright decline. They just didn’t answer.

Rev showed Esports Insider screenshots of his email exchange with Leagues.gg. You can see Leagues.gg emailing Rev after the issue went public, claiming that they hadn’t heard from him in seven months and had assumed this meant the issue was resolved.

“This point of contact was cc’d to multiple emails of me confirming my original invoices and re-sending them more than one or two years ago,” Rev stated.

He then requested his small late fee, since the payment was more than two years overdue. The payment: $172 for one guest appearance. Rev told me he’d been taxed for this amount, even though he hadn’t been paid for two years.

After this exchange, Rev had emailed the same point of contact four times asking about the late fee. He didn’t receive any answer.

We can say that Leagues.gg publicly rejected the idea of paying late fees. We can also say that this was all over a few hundred bucks. But there are bigger issues at play here: esports companies are constantly failing to pay staff and players. For years. And they often only respond once the victims go public.

Why not go public earlier, you may ask? Unfortunately, there is a power dynamic at play in the esports industry. There aren’t many opportunities in such a niche scene, and the ones that exist don’t pay well. Many pro players, coaches, casters, and staff feel at the mercy of these organizations, afraid to miss out on future jobs since they are often struggling to find anything.

“Since I dream of being able to cast full-time in English, I decided not to go public even after a two-plus year delay,” Rev told Esports Insider.

There’s also the added layer of publicity that casters, analysts, and pro players have. Rev explained that Leagues.gg probably felt safe to “target the talent lineup,” hoping they wouldn’t make the issue public due to the potential for “bad press” attached to their name. This could possibly make it even trickier to land one of the few opportunities out there.

Unfortunately, this situation with the NLC is not unique. FOG Esports and Bleed Esports have both been accused of failing to pay their pro players for months. Tournament organizers like Yala Compass allegedly owe millions in prize money.

It’s an industry operating in the red. Many esports organizations and other companies make money only from sponsorships and investments. There’s a reason the scene is so easily accessible to Saudi Arabian companies. They need money. Team Liquid went against its own morals by participating in the Esports World Cup, and we all know it was because the event had millions of dollars on the line.

The NLC didn’t make the money it had hoped for. The Overwatch League didn’t make the money it had hoped for. ESL Impact was a financial burden on ESL. Esports organizations keep dropping teams since most scenes don’t make them any money.

As funds dry up, opportunities in the esports industry have become fewer and fewer. Rev noted that a lot of tournaments can only have broadcasts due to the talent volunteering or taking “distrubingly low rates.” These tournaments have small prize pools due to a lack of funding, so teams don’t make much money either. The cycle continues. No money to be had anywhere.

Some say it’s due to esports being just too niche of an idea. Some say it’s due to a lack of marketing aimed at the community and building player storylines and personalities. Some say it’s because watching tournaments on Twitch is free, so there is not much money to be made there.

No matter the reason, I don’t see many solutions aside from FlyQuest’s PROJECT: GRASSROOTS mission or Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma funding his own Smash locals.

“Honestly, I don’t dream of riches,” Rev said, “but I do dream of a day when once again I can work in esports full-time without being in a continuous state of crippling anxiety attacks about whether or not I can pay my rent or not.”