"No Information Regarding Prize Pool Was Given To Us," S8UL All Might Alleges LOCO Hasn't Paid Them Prize Pool Money For Almost Two Years

The Indian Esports scene is far from perfect. The relatively new industry needs a lot of time to develop a culture that is transparent, seamless and pays the players on time. Since players have been facing issues with prize pool money getting dispersed on time, they have started raising the issue on social media. 

In a recent conversation with S8UL All Might, the creator revealed that players have not been paid for the Pokémon Unite City League, which ended in May 2022. The event was an individual player-based tournament with big Pokemon Unite creators like Beg4Mercy, and Kaztro in attendance.  

Also Read: "Blind Hasn't Paid Our Salaries And Travelling Expenses", Alleges Ex-Blind Esports COC Manager

S8UL All Might Opens Up About Unpaid Tournament Dues By LOCO

S8UL All Might opened up about whole the situation and said that the players were not informed about the prize pool money on the tournament groups, nor were they given any other information on how the prize pool money would reach them.

"It (Pokémon Unite City League) ended in May 2022 with my team as the winner. No information regarding the prize pool was given to us in the respective team groups, no forms were given and we thought creators would get the prize money and then it would be forwarded to us. Upthrust was the managing partner so they were handling the operations."

All Might then went on to explain that they tried to reach out to Upthrust, who managed the whole event, and through them, hoped to reach LOCO but were informed by the owner, Kartik Sabherwal, that Upthrust was also struggling to get their managing fees from LOCO. This step to reach out to Upthrust was allegedly taken six months after the tournament was over. 

"Time passed, nothing was handed out, it was a small community at that time so we tried contacting through Upthrust but Kartik Sabherwal said LOCO hadn't even paid their managing fee yet and regarding the prize pool they were saying the Pokemon Company hadn't distributed it."
 

To establish communication with LOCO representatives, Upthrust Esports added the representatives to the same group as the players, but the representative did not read or respond to the messages. The team was forced to reach out to another representative from the company, but he wasn't able to provide the players with a solution and tried shifting the blame to The Pokemon Company.

"They kept blaming The Pokemon Company for a long time which doesn't sit well with me as The Pokemon Company is literally the most strict organizer in the whole of esports worldwide. They literally paid us world championship prize pools within 2 months without any issues, so LOCO saying The Pokemon Company hasn't distributed the money is BS."

All Might added that he also reached out to the Pokemon Company to ask for help, but was informed that LOCO has to distribute the prize pool to the players. After being denied the prize pool for almost two years, All Might took to Instagram to share his story in hopes that the matter would get resolved if it came to public light.