ESL vs FLASHPOINT: the war told through tweets
The battle between CS:GO’s upcoming leagues has been surprisingly overexposed on Twitter, providing quite the first draft of history even before either side fired their first shot on the servers. A significant part of this is Thorin’s involvement with the FLASHPOINT project as a creative director, as the omnipresent esports historian hasn’t pulled any punches on the platform, driving the discussion on an almost daily basis. What if you consumed nothing but the 288-character back-and-forth between the actors in this drama? For better or for worse, this is the impression you would have gotten:
Monday, December 16, 2018
First details of ‘B Site’ revealed by DeKay
Friday, January 10, 2019
ESL requests in-person meeting with prominent CS:GO orgs, seeks 4-year deals
Tuesday, January 14
Details of the LANXESS Agreement term sheet leaked by DeKay
Thursday, January 16
ESL, DreamHack, and CSPPA sign framework agreement for ESL Pro Tour
Friday, January 17
Reporting reveals the end of ECS
Saturday, January 18
Thorin announces Creative Director role in ‘B Site’
Monday, January 20
HLTV founder comments on ESL’s ranking; Richard Lewis corroborates reporting on the LANXESS agreement
Wednesday, January 22
Cloud9 and Astralis representatives go on record about their thought process about the leagues
Thursday, January 23
‘B Site’ announces its talent lineup; C9 President Dan Fiden makes appearance on By The Numbers; DeKay reports on 24-team Pro League format
Friday, January 24
ESL announces first details of revamped ESL Pro League amid community backlash
Saturday, January 25
Amid the continuing fallout, Thorin declares he won’t work with ESL in the future and announces open qualifiers for ‘Rush B’; Richard Lewis floats possible By The Numbers appearances by ESL representatives
Monday, January 27
ESL’s Senior VP of Product issues an apology; CSPPA weighs in on the controversy
Tuesday, January 28
Astralis floats Pro League participation; Semmler makes appearance on HLTV Confirmed
Friday, January 31
ESL announces special qualifying process for Pro League Season 12; ESL representatives make By The Numbers appearance
Sunday, February 2
‘Rush B’ qualifiers overlap with the Rio Minors’, confusion emerges on Twitter
Monday, February 3
ESL’s CARMAC appears on HLTV Confirmed
Tuesday, February 4
‘B Site’ qualifiers rescheduled as Thorin apologizes for erroneous comments about the matter
Wednesday, February 5
FLASHPOINT’s official reveal
Thursday, February 6
Thorin interviewed by GGRecon; GODSENT confirms EPL choice over FLASHPOINT
Saturday, February 8
Thorin repeatedly criticizes ESL’s World Ranking
Sunday, February 9
InvenGlobal publishes interview about FLASHPOINT’s creative direction; EU open qualifier #3 restarted due to “unforeseen circumstances”
Monday, February 10
The Esports Observer publishes interview with FLASHPOINT ownership members
Tuesday, February 11
Esportz Network publishes interview with Gen.G co-founder and Dan Fiden of Cloud9; MAJ3R complains about qualifier rules as FACEIT issues statement
Monday, February 16
Continued overlaps between FLASHPOINT qualifiers and Minor qualifiers are discussed on Twitter
Tuesday, February 17
Thorin calls out Astralis on Twitter; Nikolaj Nyholm weighs in
Tuesday, February 18
ESL announces their partner teams for Pro League among the other participants
Tuesday, February 19
ESL’s revenue sharing plans scrutinized
What have learned from all this? First, it feels like DeKay's reporting is everywhere you look, forming significant part of this story with revelations throghout the months. In fact, most of the reporting across the scene was accurate with regards to these competitions. It's also interesting the track the concerted effort by the FLASHPOINT people to score appearances and daily interview releases in the endemic esports media across the last few weeks. No doubt ESL's seismic format change and FLASHPOINT's corresponding qualifier announcement (and its effects on scheduling) have further strained relations between the tournament organizers. And of course, there's Thorin, the mad conductor of straight fire messages, dominating the conversation and single-handedly elevating FLASHPOINT in the wider discussion, aggressively going to bat for the project and arguably risking some of his credibility in the process. No doubt there’s more to come and the war is far from over. The soap opera, however, is already in full swing.
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