Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill is a well-known caster of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and has expressed his grievances about professional players of the shooter during a livestream. He expects them to do their homework outside of tournaments as well. This includes contributing to the team, brand maintenance, interviews, and social media.
What is the problem? During the Corona times, there were significantly fewer tournaments in CS:GO. Teams and players had to adapt to this. In a podcast on HLTVorg, the caster SPUNJ spoke about the adjustment and became quite emotional.
He is particularly bothered by the fact that many professional players do not provide any value to their team outside of tournaments. This is especially critical when it comes to sponsors:
If I were one of the [sponsors] sponsoring an event, and COVID happens, then we need to renegotiate what my money is really worth […], when fans are not going to tournaments, they are not buying jerseys, and they are not buying the surrounding things, like Red Bull […].
What would the caster like to see differently? SPUNJ noticed that many players cannot market themselves at all and often do not want to either. They lack the presence and the will to put in the effort:
Apart from s1mple, Astralis, and maybe a handful of other players who stream and are well-known in their region and have brand power, the rest of you have no power.
If you are not playing an official tournament, you bring nothing to your organization. That sounds terrible, but it is true, as you are either terrible in interviews or do not want to do them at all, you have no presence in social media, […] you simply do not bring any brand loyalty to your organization …
While he also warns against burnout and mental issues due to a full streaming schedule, he still urges the professionals to invest more time in their portfolio.
Being a professional means more than just being good at gaming
What is part of being a professional player? Anyone who follows professional players in eSports might think that just playing video games is part of the job and that victories in tournaments are at the forefront. However, in general, there is more to a professional’s life, even from the organization’s perspective. Because only with prize money could very few teams sustain themselves.
As a professional, one is at the center of many media and viewers, must express themselves in interviews, and positively represent their organization. Those who do not can ruin their entire career, as Call of Duty professional Daunte “Sibilants” Gray did.
He shot after a loss in a stream and allegedly made homophobic remarks. As a result, he was expelled from his organization Atlanta FaZe.
Appearances, interviews, and self-marketing are also essential. A player who has perfected this is LoL star Faker. He is now inseparable from the organization T1 and has become known for his strong games and his behavior outside of tournaments.
He was even portrayed as a “God” by Riot Games, the developers of LoL, and it even went so far that laws of a country could be changed for him. His fame benefited both him and his organization. Even if they do not go to Worlds this year, they have still received a lot of coverage, often more than the teams that made the leap.
However, it can also go exactly the other way around. Those who are not famous and well-known can also be quickly replaced. This was reported by former LoL professional Yan “Letme” Jun-Ze from China.
