Esports and gaming company eFuse has announced changes to and the postponement of its Creator League following criticism around its use of blockchain technology.
The company has also announced staff layoffs in what has been a tumultuous week for eFuse and those linked with it.
Its Creator League was first announced a few days ago, with YouTube star MrBeast backing it, and big-name content creators lined up to take part, including iShowSpeed, Bella Poarch, Vinnie Hacker, Clix, Sapnap and CDawgVA.
Esports org Optic Gaming and content creator group OTK were also lined up to take part.
The premise behind the Creator League is that creators would captain each team, with their separate communities also getting involved across the different splits. $19.99 community passes would let fans join a team’s community and vote on decisions.
However, while the Creator League was due to get underway on September 8th 2023, it has now been postponed.
CDawgVA withdraws from Creator League citing blockchain
Welsh YouTuber CDawgVA said in a statement on September 3rd: “I accepted to join the Creator League not fully understanding the tech behind it. Needless to say, with the current information available I’m planning on withdrawing.
“I was not told or made aware at any point that there was Blockchain technology and was only made aware of that information when the event went live. I was given assurances that it had nothing to do with NFT’s. Given my vocal hatred of such tech, I would never agree to join had I known that.”
This led to others discussing the situation, prompting eFuse to post an update.
The company said its making changes to the Creator League and and has postponed its launch.
Matthew Benson, eFuse CEO, said: “We remain excited about the Creator League and will take some time to reflect on community feedback and refine its structure.”
Shawn Pavel, VP of Engineering for eFuse, added: “We apologise for not intentionally disclosing the blockchain’s limited use within the Creator League purchasing process and have implemented practices to ensure that doesn’t happen again. To be clear, the Creator League is not an NFT project and we have never sold tokens.”
eFuse said it will also issue refunds to anyone who bought a pass but isn’t comfortable with the blockchain technology, and will host an open Fortnite tournament, with fans able to register for that in the coming weeks. Original Split 1 dates will be postponed.
eFuse staff layoffs announced
Yesterday, several eFuse staff members announced on social media that they had been let go, across various departments such as social, design and esports.
eFuse has since told several news outlets including Dexerto that it had laid off 30% of its staff (around 30 people), as it ‘refocuses on current high-value products and offerings’, with the publication also reporting that a large funding round may be expected in the near future.
eFuse owns several entities including online publication Esports.gg, streamer toolkit Sidekick and league management system Erena.
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.
