Evil Geniuses allegedly drops creator under false pretences, draws community outrage
The Rocket League community is in uproar after creator and streamer Elyse "Herculyse" Herrera discovered that her own tournament series had allegedly been taken from her under false pretences.
North American esports organisation Evil Geniuses is once again the centre of focus, having previously signed Hercules as a partnered streamer and collaborating with her on eleven prior events in 2023.
The esports community's reaction ranged from outrage regarding how the situation was handled to asking to boycott Evil Geniuses' event.
The timeline
Throughout 2023, Herculyse organised eleven events ranging from regular pro tournaments to collegiate cups to developmental tournaments for up-and-coming talent both in Europe and North America under Herculyse's New Era Series.
Esports organisation Evil Geniuses became the official sponsor of these events, with energy company Chevron joining as an additional sponsor by the second event.
On October 23, Herculyse announced on social media that she had been let go as a streamer and organiser from Evil Geniuses, allegedly being told that the "tournament series has lost all sponsor and partnership and the last 4 events of the 15 this year have been canceled."
The announcement arrived amid a challenging industry-wide correction, sometimes referred to as the "esports winter" - an era of decreasing investment in the sector that has forced the industry to consolidate.
The news didn't raise suspicion until Evil Geniuses' official Twitter account announced an event called the "Chevron Collegiate Cup," not only indicating that Chevron would be remaining as a title sponsor but also directly taking from the Herculyse’s New Era Series: Chevron Collegiate Cup hosted in April this year.
The announcement, therefore, seems to fly in direct opposition to the reasons Herculyse alleged to have been given for her departure from the organisation and the cancellation of her events.
The reaction
Following the announcement, questions were raised by the Rocket League community and the wider esports community at large.
Esports Desk Analyst of the year Jessica "Jess" Bolden quipped: "Evil, yes. Genuis, no." Social Media Manager for Cloud9 Mateus Portilho went even further, replying: "You should be embarrassed for making this sort of post. Shame on you."
Various community figures, including player and content creator, Treyven "Lethamyr" Robitaille, have called for a boycott of the event. "Please do not sign up for this tournament," the Canadian tweeted.
