Skyesports 'We are actively reaching out to all team owners'

Following Dust2 India's detailed report about the the workings of Skyesports Masters 2023 and the payment delays arising post the event, Dust2 India had once again reached out to Skyesports on the matter.

On July 8th, Dust2 India sent a questionnaire to Skyesports to respond and provide clarification on the matter.

These questions arose from additional evidence and statements from players received by Dust2 India. Here are the questions sent to Skyesports:

Question 1

Skyesports Masters finished in August 2023, yet as per the claims made by Skyesports, they paid the teams in March 2024. The rulebook provided by Skyesports has no mention of the deadline for the disbursements.

Yet, the rulebook for the general tournaments states a timeline of 90-120 days, it took a considerably longer period of time to disburse the prize money. Consequently, Dust2 India inquired about the reason for the delay.

Question 2

Temperrr, a former Reckoning Esports player has come forward to Dust2 India and stated that Reckoning only received 3.5L as per their message to a Reckoning player in April 2024.

A former Marcos Gaming player, ZEROCOOL, shared his conversation with the management that took place in April 2024 as well, suggesting they are still waiting for their payment. Skyesports claimed that they had paid the teams by March 4, 2024.

Thus, Dust2 India asked whether Skyesports was aware of these claims by the organizations and, if so, how they addressed them.

Question 3

In a statement issued to Dust2 India on July 2nd, Skyesports said “The claim that players were left without compensation should be addressed within the respective organizations as Skyesports has no direct agreements with the players and can only address payments to the team organizations which were made", yet, many players are in the hopes that Skyesports would be helping them out to receive their pending payments.

Medal Esports' Tony has come forward and stated

Well in my honest opinion, Skyesports, should help the players get the prizemoney they distributed to the orgs, especially the imports. From my perspective we didn't get any help it felt like the whole tournament was every man for himself after the whole thing crashed. Nobody asked the players how they were doing after the tournament. Their goal was to help raise the Indian Counter-Strike scene and the only way to do that is to help the players first. As players are the reasons why tournaments would exist in the first place.

Dust2 India sought to understand if Skyesports is going to look into this matter to make sure all the players who participated in the event get their payment.

Question 4

While Skyesports confirms that the whole prize money was paid, the data shared by their CEO Shiva Nandy to one of the players shows that the amount sent to the orgs was after deducting the stipend amount.

The claim of being “substantially higher than 5L” is also untrue in most of the cases. Dust2 India requested clarification on the subject.

Question 5

In lieu with the same, Skyesports had stated that ONLY 7SEA was unpaid but the data in the sheet (shared above) shows that Revenant was also not paid by the given time period shared by Skyesports, officially.

Dust2 India sought an explanation for the same.

Skyesports has not replied to Dust2 India's questionnaire directly but stated that the 'Notice' the released regarding the tournament payments addressed most of the questions.

The notice clarifies that each esports organisation has complete autonomy to manage their rosters and negotiate contracts with players independently of Skyesports. As a tournament organizer, Skyesports has stated that they are not involved in the 'internal contract management of these teams'. The organiser also claimed that they are in touch with each team owner to make sure all players are paid for the Skyesports Masters 2023.