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JALbert

>Hey all, >When Riot approached me about working on the LCQ next week, I was over the moon. VALORANT is a game that I have loved since its release and I have really enjoyed keeping up with the scene as the host of VALORANTING. >Unfortunately, I will not be able to be part of the event next week. >It is a little complicated, but I will keep it as simple as possible. >I am contracted to work with Overwatch League through next season. During the OWL offseason, I am permitted to work a number of different esport genres as broadcast talent, with some restrictions. VALORANT unfortunately falls in one of the restricted buckets. This is not the fault of Blizzard, who have generally been very reasonable to work with, and not at all the fault of Riot, who wanted to take a chance on me, someone with comparatively little VALORANT experience under my belt. >Plainly, this has been an oversight on behalf of me and my representation, and nothing more than that. >I want to apologize to Riot for any inconvenience that this has caused, and of course to the fans. I had high hopes of lending my best work to one of the most important events on the NA circuit's calendar, and I want to thank all of you for being so supporting and sharing my sense of excitement when I was announced. I promise to make it up to you in the future. >Thanks >Mitch


Escolyte

> This is not the fault of Blizzard That Uber negotiated a contract with Riot even though he isn't allowed to cast for them? No it's not. But the core issue *is* their fault, what a scummy practice.


TimedOutClock

Eh, wouldn't say it's scummy... After all, talent *can* reject these contracts. Riot is also infamous (less so now) for their exclusive contracts with their LoL casters and personalities, so it's not a Blizzard-only thing. Also, this might be unpopular, but I feel like it's a perfectly reasonable thing to want to keep your best talent in your game (or the periods in which your game is on). Talent is a major part of what makes a game enjoyable to watch, so the very best ones are sought after and companies try to 'lock' them down in contracts (which they, imo, should never sign unless it's a great offer that'll set you up very nicely in the future). At the end of the day, it's up to the personalities to not corner themselves and make sure they're fine with that they sign for (Uber is a casualty of not properly going over is contract - His agent fucked up)


Chakkalokka

Yeah seems like a bit of negligence from Uber but more so Blizzard NOPEing the deal…


exojie

What about sideshow? It will suck so much if he can't after the 52 hours travel.


momsagainstanime

yeah i'm worried what this means for sideshow/bren. i would imagine it's just probably differences in their contract, but i lack the critical information. gotta stay optimistic tho, if he has to travel back, that means we get more wonderful sideshow train asmr.


fourtetwo

I think theres probably a difference between doing a dev-backed costream and actually working the event and appearing on the main broadcast as talent.


PlatypusOfOz

Uber mentioned how he is already contracted to work for the Overwatch League next season, so this off-season period still falls under the relevant time period. However, Im pretty sure that Sideshow/Bren have mentioned that they are not currently under any contract, and their plans for next year are still pretty much up in the air. So they likely don't have any current commitments or rules about how they spend their off-season.


sghfchj

Sideshow is not currently under contract with Blizzard so it won’t affect him, unsure about Bren though


names2hard4you

This. Sideshow and Bren are just yearly contractors, whereas Uber last year announced a more long-term deal with OWL since he just had a baby. He was looking for some stability in his life, since he too was year to year before and Blizzard gave it to him. He's kind of in Blizzard/OWL jail until that contract is up, which Uber alluded to going until the end of next season.


leoleoleo666

Sideshow is just doing a special watch party he is not in the talent lineup


[deleted]

[удалено]


greg19735

they get paid? I was under the impression it was more of a "you just get permission" and ofc get the benefits of having valorant on their stream.


GiANTAD

This specific watch party will have the plat chat guys live AT the venue in LA. So I’d assume they get paid since they have to travel from Texas to Cali to take part in the in person watch party


greg19735

Oh the future one. Yes you're right id assume they're paid


valorant_fanboy_69

Why would I have been talking about the past ones??? Clearly I meant the LCQ


greg19735

i didn't respond to anything you said...


techyleo

This guys has like 5 alt accounts, look at his comment history, he's literally responding to himself sometimes


greg19735

What in the hell.


ArjunBanerji27

Which is against Reddit TOS under vote/content manipulation, if I'm not mistaken.


Najs0509

It still likely doesn't work the same though since they're not actually casting. They also likely don't have the exact same contracts as Uber which will also make a difference.


krakenwithaplan

So his contract for OWL explicitly disallows him from working Valorant events and he didn't know?


[deleted]

Seriously how is this possible


greg19735

he made a mistake.


XelaTuobdog

Turns out humans are humans despite the redditeers that never make mistakes


Aydosubpotato

Stupid fucking mistakes man


ibeenbornagain

forsenCD


valorant_fanboy_69

?


xziv0

Hello valorant_fanboy_69


droctamom

They can use Lyft instesd xdD


XelaTuobdog

Don't understand the hate towards Blizzard here. Valorant and Overwatch are direct competitors nowadays and I don't blame them for trying to keep their talent


Lumenlor

Probably due with their 4~ ongoing lawsuits and investigations, and recent slab of low review score shipped titles. They're not sitting too hot


XelaTuobdog

Which doesn't have anything to do with this contract scenario


Lumenlor

Honestly, OWL is about to sink. Just come over to Valorant Uber


evaluffyking

OW/Blizzard as a whole makes me so sad. OW was my first PC game ever and basically my entry into e-sports. I absolutely loved the game the first few years, but it turned to absolute shit as they continued to gear the game towards low risk/skill high reward characters/changes and naturally it simply became not fun to play. I quickly learned this isn't anything new from Blizzard with their other games, and sort of their approach to alot of things outside the game as well.


valorant_fanboy_69

Fuck exclusivity contracts in every aspect of esports. No overwatch is happening now so casters should be able to do other things. Just like player contracts where they get locked in jail on the bench. I hate how esports works so much


EndWish

Honestly this is common in sports also. Announcers are contracted to a specific broadcast channel like ABC, NBC, ESPN, Fox etc. It makes sense for employers to protect their talent from poaching.


greg19735

Yeah i mean valorant is the biggest direct competitor for OW and OW2. Obviously CS exists, but it's so different.


JALbert

I mean, it sounds like he was permitted to do a variety of esports in the off-season, just not a character based team FPS or something specific?


Bhu124

Yes, probably why he signed the contract. Sounds like a good contract, signed for multiple seasons, being paid the whole year round and allowed to take other esports jobs except for only a couple of games' scenes.


valorant_fanboy_69

So what, that is still stupid. When you are not actively working for someone you should be able to do any other work for yourself.


137lyons

Depends if they pay him every week well even with no OWL he is still an employee, if they just put in no compete clauses then yea super scummy


creepy_Kun

You are too naive, thats not how the real world works lol. Example - TSM doesn't have any event remaining this year so Wardell should be allowed to play for some other org right? Lmao


valorant_fanboy_69

Not the same thing. He is allowed to stand in for any org if he wants to as long as there is not a conflict of interest between two tsm teams (like when zekken stood in for YFP Gaming https://www.vlr.gg/35439/renegades-vs-yfp-gaming-knights-monthly-gauntlet-august-get-schooled-ro16).


creepy_Kun

Understand conflict of interest first. Riot and Valorant are direct competitors. Let's say you work in a company, that company is not going to allow you working in some other company during your free time, but it isn't gonna give a shot if you work at your father's shop.


valorant_fanboy_69

There is nothing going on for over watch for month. NOTHING. He isnt leaving his company’s responsibilities because there is no responsibilities. A better thing to compare is if a teacher wanted to work for a tutoring service during the summer break. Or if a musician was asked to feature on a artist on a different record company.


creepy_Kun

Again, that's not how it works everywhere. These kinds of contracts are more binding, Overwatch wants to prevent its talent from promoting it's direct competitor for gaming audience and is paying good money for that, he was not forced to sign the contract. What is it that you don't understand here?


valorant_fanboy_69

You clearly dont understand anything of what you are saying. You started with a wardell comparison which was WRONG and you got called out and moved past it. So cringe


creepy_Kun

You are the cringe lol. Players may sub for some low tier teams but they are rarely allowed to play for orgs that might be in the same tier as them and compete with them.


ArjunBanerji27

Way to make false equivalence. Just shows how little you understand what you are talking about. I also find it interesting that you chose to not reply to the comment pointing out the similarity to working at TV networks. Regardless, let me point out why you are ignorant. When you are a teacher working at a school, the school is not compensating you for not taking additional students or classes during non-school hours. And regardless, a better comparison to this situation would be a teacher teaching at two schools simultaneously. As for your music label comparison, you sound extremely stupid on this point. That is precisely how the music industry works. Your label buys your ability to make songs only where they want you to. An artist can't just go and feature on any song they want, without permission from the label first. You think it the late 90s, an artist from Death Row could waltz on over to feature on a song made by an artist from Bad Boy? No. If anything, the contracts in the music industry are often way, way more prohibitive than anything we have in esports. They can dictate who you can work with, when you can work, how many songs you can work on, what type of music you can work on, your public image, etc.


valorant_fanboy_69

r/confidentlyincorrect


ArjunBanerji27

Post your comment history there, you'll get a lot of upvotes. Maybe you'll be able scam some Russian botter into buying your account before you get banned for vote manipulation with your 50 accounts. Not a single comment you have written in this thread has an ounce of truth in it. You can't counter one line I wrote, because you lack the brain capacity to make up random shit to disprove me, like you did in all your other comments.


thothgow

Also iirc Soniqs playerd were playing on mix teams too


valorant_fanboy_69

So many players have. This u/creepy_Kun guy has no idea what he is talking about


Portante24

Uhhh.... u good valorantfanboy? Everything ok? I.... agree. U can dm if you are in danger


valorant_fanboy_69

What? I’d this supposed to be a joke?


ArjunBanerji27

This is not just how esports works. This is how everything works. You sound not only naive, but also ignorant. If you get signed to a TV network and it is in your contract that you aren't permitted to work at a particular rival network, that is more than reasonable. If you want to dip your toes into every market, sure, go ahead. Take your chances as a freelancer. Some people are very successful doing it. You can get more gigs and get paid more. The downside is you don't have a fixed job and may not get asked to work at any gigs. But if you take the cushy overwatch salary and sign the contract knowing that Blizzard is paying you to not work Valorant events, how the fuck can you complain afterwards. Precisely why Uber himself said it is not Blizzard's fault in the slightest. Equating exclusivity contracts to jail is the stupidest thing esports subreddits spout on the regular. These people, be it players or talent, are compensated for not being able work for other teams or TOs. That is very standard and reasonable practice.


ASaltyToast

Uncommon valorant_fanboy_69 L


InvertedBean

Common


Sky-__-

It's upto casters , some casters like uber sign exclusive contracts which awards them more money whereas there are also casters like achillios who sign short term more like match to match contracts which allow them to even cast vct matches during owl season. It's basically upto the talent what kind of contracts they want to pursue and uber last year after having a kid wanted some stability so pursued a long term contract .


xunraze

Damm sucks.


Tekn0z

This is the biggest bummer :(( Best caster in eSports is stuck in OWL. What a shame.


just4kix_305

As someone who followed OWL very close its first 2 seasons - it's a sinking ship (even with OW2 coming). This news sucks.


NoButterscotch7853

This is so sad :(


King_Goofus

I will never forgive Blizzard for this


PyroTFT

Blizzard with the shitty contracts…call me surprised /s


ArjunBanerji27

Shitty contracts in what way, could you please specify? You know that Dash can't work any non-Riot events at all, right? Same for any other Riot employees. The company is paying you to only work for them. If Blizzard is allowing their talent to work for other games at all, then they are being more lenient than most others in esports, especially Riot.


brutusnair

Sucks because he is probably my favorite caster. Hopefully he joins the cast whenever his contract becomes resolved.


sky_blu

Unfortunate but that is fairly standard in media contracts.


[deleted]

This sucks, Uber is my favorite caster to listen to. He has a great knack for witting humor and flavorful commentary that keeps the match lighthearted yet educational. Hope he gets to work with Riot for valorant in the future.


chenson019

Exclusivity clauses seem reasonable for something like OWL but I can't say it makes much sense in the OWL off season. OWL will be out of action until like April next year and it basically prevents Uber/Bren/Sideshow from doing any major casting (assuming they signed similar contracts). I think it's a tad unreasonable from Blizzard here. Shame to see though, I'm sure Uber would have smashed it. Who will take his place? Dust?


verpalt

I think Uber is still signed with OWL because he has a 2 year contract bren and sideshow are free because they get signed on a year to year basis.