UK CSGO organisation Caz eSports have not had a good time over the past few months.
There was some drama at DreamHack, where their former CSGO players complained they didn’t receive enough money from the org during the tourney, for food and accommodation.
eSports journalist Richard Lewis then laid into Caz over their dropping of the roster, and rightly called them out on their handling of the situation. Caz seemingly became a bit of a joke overnight, with the ‘Biggsy and Baggsy’ label doing the rounds online.
Caz then signed the ESL UK Premiership CSGO champions The Working Men, and last week won the inaugural UK Masters tournament final at i58. They also changed their company processes and hired a HR manager.
Ben Bagg, manager at Caz eSports, told eSports News UK that he was ready to give up after seeing the Richard Lewis video.
“As soon as the Richard Lewis video dropped, I was at breaking point. I didn’t sleep a wink that night – two years of my life nearly ruined. We were close to leaving [eSports].”
“We as an org know that we messed up,” Ben admitted. “We didn’t plan that event very well – and it was our first event abroad. What happened happened, there was frustration.
“But the team left, it was a mutual thing. As soon as the Richard Lewis video dropped, I was at breaking point. I didn’t sleep a wink that night – two years of my life nearly ruined. This is a hobby at the end of the day but it’s a very passionate hobby of mine – and the same for my partner Liam.
“We were close to leaving, but we had a guy who we know contact us – a HR manager. He said: ‘Don’t give up. We know you’re good guys, you can get past this. Just own up to your mistakes, accept it and fix it.’
“So I spent the whole morning writing a press statement, outlining what we’d done wrong and how we can improve. I hired that guy as a HR manager for Caz. He will make sure the players are well looked after. Anything we say that’s a form of a promise will be in writing and properly done.
“We have complaints forms the players can fill out, and proper company procedures and processes for event planning. We’re really happy with that because it takes a lot of load off our mind.”
You can view our full video interview with Ben here:
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.
