eSports organisation Terra Cotta Army (TCA) have apologised for the way they’ve dealt with former players whom they owe money to.
Sean17, former TCA mid-laner, has published a video online running through some of his grievances with TCA management, including not being paid for the team’s two wins in the ESL UK Premiership. He states that the team is owed £625 overall.
Former TCA support player Bart Wessels has also tweeted saying he is owed money.
TCA founder Wingo “Luna” Chan told the players they would be paid once TCA had received the money from ESL.
However, private Skype messages published online by Sean17 show ESL’s Matt Loftus confirming to him that TCA had already been paid £525 for the Promotions games.
Matt added that a remaining £100 for the ladder matches ‘should’ be repaid within the next 28 days. That message was from January 27th, meaning the payment from ESL is late, or that Luna hasn’t paid it yet.
Sean17 said: “Because of the two wins we got from the ESL Premiership, Luna owes the team £250 – so £50 each.
“I have no proof of this, but at the start, when we joined TCA, Luna said he would take a 0% cut of the winnings – that all ESL winnings would go to us (the players). Now he’s trying to change his mind and take a 20% cut.”
Messages from Luna do mention the org taking a 20% cut, but since the publication of Sean17’s video, Luna has admitted that a 0% cut is what the org and their players originally agreed on.
Luna said: “We agreed that the organisation will take 0% from the ESL earnings – it’s a fact. I tried to explain what’s happening with ESL and quite clearly have done a pretty bad job at conveying that across – and that’s when some hurtful words were exchanged as the players felt we weren’t giving them the earnings.”
There are other grievances Sean raises in the video, including being asked by Luna to receive £10 to £25 less than what he’s owed due to ‘transactional fees’, and some heated messages show Luna and the players swearing at one another.
Sean added on the YouTube video: “TCA are a really bad org with the way they treat their players, and I couldn’t let them f*ck around with me for any longer. I have had far too much patience with them and after two months of waiting, the situation has not improved at all, so I had to make this video for a last attempt to show what kind of an org TCA really is.”
Without a contract in place, Luna doesn’t legally have to pay up, however acting in good faith the players expect him to keep his apparent word – and rightly so.
Luna has always taken the stance that the players will be paid when he has all of the money from ESL. However, after the publication of the video, Luna has published a Twitlonger post apologising for the way he has handled the situation.
“I’d like to apologise for the way the situation has been handled. Clearly I was too upset and overreacted,” he said.
“Subjectively speaking, the players want their money, which they are entitled to and the way they see it is TCA is holding onto the money and they feel they aren’t getting that – so again, I apologise for the tone of voice from the recent interaction.
“ESL had sent the money for last season’s amount, the players were all notified of this. However, the payment ESL sent was not the correct amount as I’m sure ESL can confirm and we were under the impression to wait as they investigate with the accounts department.
“We discovered that there was still £100 short and we were told from ESL that it could be 28 days. We did not want to send anything until the entire amount was received so that everything was clear with ESL.
Luna added: “The truth to the matter is, we’ve already repeatedly said we would once the rest of the ESL money arrives.
“I’m sorry for my hot headed response to people that I consider friends and I am sorry if this makes people respect TCA less. It’s the last thing that I want to happen. Hold me accountable, not my team.”
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
