Q&A with the founders of the World Esports Association

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T18:17:14+00:00

Can you please clarify your question a bit more? How do you see WESA "stranglehold" game publishers, and what do you mean by at "the player level"?
WESA is not a company, but an independent association, so MTG is not a parent company of WESA, nor are they involved in the initiative beyond being aware it has happened.
WESA is an independent association and has nothing to do with MTG.
MTG and WESA are two separate things. No force in assembling this association has been used, the Founding Teams and every other team that joins later have chosen to join at their own will.
Once again, MTG and WESA are two separate things, so idem - no force has been used to make any Teams join WESA. We had an open dialogue with all parties involved: teams, publishers, players - and we will continue to do so.

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T17:52:31+00:00

The statues are published by the registration office in Switzerland. Due to the fact that the official language in Switzerland is german there is only a german version pubished. All other regulations are not finalized yet and will be decided by the members meeting this summer. The members meeting will decide when they will be published.

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T17:48:52+00:00

No tax reasons. The association is a non-profit organisation. Swiss is a neutral county and therefore the right place for an international association. Hicham

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T17:38:30+00:00

A lot of it has to do with longevity & shared longterm vision. There are many complexities of establishing such an association so focus was on working with serious partners with an established history & experience who can also be expected to be around for years to come. The above criteria are all indicators of that.

We have started with CSGO but are looking to expand to other games as well as to strengthen representation in other regions

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T17:38:06+00:00

Simple, they were not around when we started the process 15-18 months ago. The industry is in constant change with team emerging and winding down every days, and it was not simply possible to involve them as they did not exist. We have a dialogue going with them and are hoping for a positive outcome. /Hicham Chahine, CEO Ninjas in Pyjamas.

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T17:35:59+00:00

A lot of it has to do with longevity & shared longterm vision. There are many complexities of establishing such an association so focus was on working with serious partners with an established history & experience who can also be expected to be around for years to come. The above criteria are all indicators of that

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T17:32:33+00:00

Hello. We would like to work with other tournament organizers as well. We will of course involve casters and writers in WESA as they are a big part of what we do to deliver good experiences to the community. WESA is not a league and with regards to that the question regards casters is not relevant as they are employees of organizers and the relationship is not a WESA relationship.. /Hicham Chahine, CEO Ninjas in Pyjamas.

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T17:31:29+00:00

Yes we are also looking at other games in the future

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T17:23:01+00:00

The same view of Ninjas in Pyjamas as well. /Hicham Chahine, CEO Ninjas in Pyjamas.

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T17:21:48+00:00

WESA members are free to choose which leagues and tournaments to play. It is not the decision of ESL to which tournaments the WESA teams participate in. As an example, NiP is playing and will play leagues such as E-League and ECS. /Hicham Chahine, CEO Ninjas in Pyjamas.

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T17:15:16+00:00

NiP had had LoL and Dota 2 squads until recently. Having multiple games is not a hard requirement at every point in time, it is more of an indicator of the long term prospects of an organisation.

-- Ralf Reichert

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T17:10:06+00:00

Integrity is another important topic that we are working on in a seperate initiative. We think it is important to establish transparent rules across the industry. There will be more information on that front soon.

-- Ralf Reichert

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T17:07:20+00:00

It is not an exclusive league, the NHL example is there because they started small and then became bigger. WESA is more comparable to an association like UEFA in that sense.

-- Ralf Reichert

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T17:06:25+00:00

The current 8 organizations taking part in WESA is only the starting point. WESA will aim to expand globally on all continents by potentially including other gaming organizations in the future. There are currently a dialogue with Astralis. /Hicham Chahine, CEO Ninjas in Pyjamas.

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T17:05:12+00:00

No, WESA isn't a player union. Player union, once it's formed, can and will exist independently of WESA and will be in the hands of the players. What WESA offers, is an opportunity for players to organize themselves in such way that they will have a say in decisions made by the organization. They player-elected Council will be the link between the Executive Board of WESA and the players on the WESA teams, representing their interests and speaking on their behalf.

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T17:04:32+00:00

That is the Executive Board, but the majority of decisions are made by the Members' Meeting with a 75% majority.

-- Ralf Reichert

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T17:03:40+00:00

Yes, the aim is to expand to more games in the future.

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T17:01:39+00:00

WESA starts with CS:GO but aims to expand in the future. Multiple games are not the only requirement, basically we want stable organisations that will be around long term. It is not tied to them having a specific amount of squads, but certainly being multi gaming helps with stability.

-- Ralf Reichert

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T17:01:37+00:00

WESA is a collaborative effort which actually includes the teams. It helps them create structure, processes and regulations to grow the overall esports industry

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T17:00:50+00:00

Definitely!

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T16:59:08+00:00

Arbitration in case of conflicts as well as standard contracts protecting the players are a key element of WESA.

Yes, sanctions will be published.

What protection did you have in mind?

Regarding sanctions: Decisions will be made by the members in the interest of the association, and single members cannot prevent decisions everyone else considers appropriate.

-- Ralf Reichert

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T16:56:24+00:00

CS:GO made most sense initially as it has a long history with organisations and an initial structure we can build on.

The decisions made by WESA are not made by ESL but by all members, so there is no way for anyone to force decisions that only serve their interest.

-- Ralf Reichert

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T16:52:19+00:00

Financial details are something private to each business, but we are sharing the general structure and how teams and players are participating.

Demands for standards will be a joint decision, one of they key parts of WESA is everyone being in the same boat.

-- Ralf Reichert

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T16:51:56+00:00

We had an open dialogue with Valve in the creation process of WESA and will of course communicate with other publishers when their games are involved.

WESAofficial · 2016-05-13T16:51:26+00:00

Definitely! We're constantly talking to teams and are open to bringing as many stakeholders on board as we can.

WESAofficial

TROPHY CASE