In 2010, Counter-Logic Gaming was established as a League of Legends squad, and it has since grown into a successful esports organization. After experiencing enough success to branch out into other games (as well as being acquired in 2017 by MSG Sports, a major US sports holding company), it now fields teams and players in games such as Fortnite, Super Smash Bros, Counter-Strike Global Offensive, Valorant, and Apex Legends, amongst other titles.
However, it is the League of Legends squad that is generating headlines for all the wrong reasons—and this is all due to the fact that they did nothing wrong. A video from CLG's official channels showed the team being chewed-out by manager Daniel 'Tafo' Lee, who basically told them that changes were coming and this might be the last time we have this roster of five playing' before cutting to an advertisement for Bud Light, which was a bit unbelievable at the time.
Since then, the video has been taken down, but esports mogul Jake Lucky has (unfortunately for CLG) managed to preserve it.
When we return from the advert, there's some strange melancholy music playing in the background, and when we return to the locker room, the coach makes it worse by telling a room of players who clearly wish this wasn't being filmed that "I know you all worked so hard, so it's hard for me, I love each and every one of you guys, you guys are all like brothers, so I just want to respect you guys as much as I can for understanding that this isn't working for the team
This is, to put it mildly, a humiliating experience for the participants engaged in the game. There are many reasons why this discussion should not have taken place in public, and the video remained up for several hours before someone at CLG realized that the organization had made a mistake, at which time it was removed and replaced with this statement.
In the statement, it is said that "our aim was to share a genuine moment with our fans and be as open as possible leading up to any changes that may occur this week." "We realize the bad light that the videocasts on our athletes, and we sincerely regret this. We have removed the video from our website."
It was, without a doubt, a genuine experience. Anyone reading this should not consider my words as life advice, but I will make the following self-evident observation: don't speak about bad things with your workers in front of others. No one, whether they're a corporate executive or a professional esports player, should ever have to break such news in front of the whole globe. It's not a good look.
As a result, please refrain from doing this to your players. Don't do it with hashtags that refer to them as 'fighting,' and definitely don't do it while tagging in Bud Light and cutting to commercials: that's nearly beyond the pale of satire. Counter Logic Gaming seems to be an appropriate moniker for this group.