For weeks, COD icons have been planning a tournament in Black Ops 2, but it has been canceled because Twitch streamers and YouTubers prefer to argue rather than play.
What kind of tournament was this? Longtime YouTuber and “Call of Duty” expert Cem “HapticRush” Gülken organized a creator tournament to celebrate the next-gen port of Black Ops 2, where Germany’s former COD icons would compete against each other.
He invited 8 creators as team leaders, who were then supposed to assemble teams with 3 additional players each and balance them independently in a group chat. The team leaders included:
- ELoTRiX
- JohnRage/Johnny
- ViscaBarca
- EliasN97
- Ksfreak
- inscope21
- MarcelScorpion
- Stylerz
The tournament was supposed to take place on August 5th and 6th, 2026, but was canceled a few hours before the start due to various disagreements and disputes, as well as last-minute cancellations.
Twitch streamers would like to be picked up from the ball paradise
Why isn’t the tournament taking place? Organizer HapticRush addressed the sudden cancellation of the tournament in a video on YouTube. The main reasons were disputes and a lack of willingness to compromise that ultimately led to 3 participants saying they no longer wanted to participate in the tournament and were only there because of Haptic. Another participant dropped out and was persuaded by Haptic to stay, and one canceled on the day of the tournament. The YouTuber does not mention any names.
The balancing of the teams was the primary trigger for the discussions. Haptic intended to handle the organization of the tournament and the team leaders would suggest whom they wanted to play with and coordinate with each other to balance the teams. Finally, there was to be a vote on the teams, where everyone had to say “yes” unanimously.
However, the plan to leave the balancing to the team leaders did not work:
Apparently, that was the mistake. Apparently, they can’t handle it. There was conflict. There was really serious conflict, not joking – between team leaders, team leaders to teammates, teammates to other teammates. There was gossip, there were rumors, people were thrown out. People were thrown out because their skill wasn’t enough. […]
Then there are team leaders who go into the streams of other team leaders and say: “Please vote in the group,” “Do this,” “Please be a good colleague, please, I want him.” That’s insane. It’s unbelievable, what a kindergarten this is. A kindergarten!
Then I chat with teammates who are no longer part of it, and they say: “In my presence, people talked about me in a way that made me uncomfortable.” What’s wrong with you?
According to Haptic, they did not “only complain” overall. There was gossip, disputes, and hurt “gamer egos,” which ultimately led him to balance the teams unilaterally to avoid conflict among the team leaders. The team leaders were then supposed to accept that – but they couldn’t do that either.
“There was still arguing and stuff, but you can never make it perfect. I was as close to perfect as I could get. Then the first voices come to me writing: ‘Why is this person on my team? I don’t know this person that well.’ […] Then comes one person, one of the team leads, and makes audio recordings yesterday, really angry: ‘Yeah, he said that and I have to play with him and now he’s on this team – I’m out.’ He simply says: ‘I’m out.’ A day before: ‘I don’t want to, I’m out.'”
The person then decided to participate in the tournament “for Haptic,” but was already the second out of a total of three people who actually had no desire to participate in the tournament and were only there because of the organizer.
On the day of the tournament, one person wrote they would drop out if a former team member didn’t play in their team again. For Haptic, the team would have been too strong again, he would have had to balance again, causing the teams to completely change once more shortly before the tournament. He couldn’t do that. Finally, on August 5th, when the tournament was supposed to start, a participant dropped out:
“Where should I organize a team now? Should I give someone a free win? What do you think would happen in this pool of people who are already arguing?”
This is what Haptic says about the cancellation of the tournament: Haptic appears visibly frustrated by the overall situation and states:
“The tournament is not taking place. It’s really sick. It’s so sick, I can’t take it anymore. I have a baby that is a little over three months old. I have a lot to do in my own life. I’ve been working all the time just for it to end up that it can’t happen. That just makes me angry. I’m really angry.“
Moreover, he feels very sorry for the spectators who were looking forward to the tournament, and he describes the behavior displayed as “incredibly uncomfortable.” And throughout, it comes across that he cannot understand how it escalated between the participants: “As if I had asked to somehow resolve the Israel-Gaza conflict. How should I know that eight grown adults, some in their mid-30s, can’t manage to balance their teams for a fun tournament?! How should I know that it wouldn’t work?”
Whether there will be a replacement date later and whether all team leaders would still be present is something Haptic could not yet say. For now, the tournament is on hold.
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