Into The Breach Falls
Organization claims that the organization's top executive stole hundreds of thousands of dollars, forcing it to cease operations.
And just like that, the ban on TikTok was lifted almost as quickly as it went dark, as U.S. President Donald Trump immediately issued an executive order giving the short-form video platform a reprieve for 90 days. Also turning the lights back on was Marvel Snap and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang—both ByteDance owned properties that had a few moments of offline darkness before coming back online.
Will TikTok allow its U.S. operations to be sold to a U.S. interest so that it becomes a wholly owned entity no longer tied to a Chinese company? I think the chances of that are pretty unlikely, as the company has not indicated that is something it wants to do—and even if it did—it would have to get approval from the Chinese government, which is even more unlikely.
I have been talking about how the U.S. government’s antagonistic relationship with the Chinese government was going to play out against companies that have ties to China for years, and we are now at that moment in history. Will the U.S. government take aim at companies in the U.S. that are owned by Chinese companies such as Riot Games? Will it force companies like Epic Games, Activision Blizzard, and others to divest the investments from Tencent? It’s highly probable and we suspect that WeChat will become a target once again in 2025 just as TikTok was when President Trump was last in office.
Meanwhile, we know the government won’t ask the same things of Saudi Arabia, a strong ally America sell arms to and gets oil from—who waltzed right into the U.S. and purchased Esports Engine with zero oversight or scrutiny on the deal…
Rest assured on one thing from us; while there are bigger political and socio-economic issues at play throughout the world right now that are way more important than esports and gaming, it would be foolish to believe that our new leaders will not institute policies and laws that will have detrimental effects on these industries over the next four years. Politics and social issues are beyond the scope of this newsletter (frankly we are not interested in the daily tit-for-tat that is mostly noise on social media almost every minute of every day), but it’s important that we are unafraid in reporting on these things when they intersect with our beloved past times and our communities, so we are going to do our job in a fair and even-handed way as we always have, without fear. In short, we will continue to be here for you, dear reader. Onto the news!
Into The Breach Ceasing Operations
UK-based esports organization Into The Breach announced this week that it will shut down following allegations that its CEO Sam "SlayTheMinotaur" Cook “embezzled” hundreds of thousands of dollars from the organization leaving employees and professional players unpaid. In a statement published on social media the organization said the following:
While the organization did not directly name the CEO, others within the organization did on social media this week… Curiously, Into The Breach has not reported Cook to law enforcement in the UK; after all the organization used the term “embezzlement,” which is in fact a crime. This white collar crime has a punishment of up to 12 months in prison and a fine of up to £10K ($12.4K USD), as well as other potential civil penalties.
Cook later acknowledged that he took the money, but blamed his “alcoholic narcissism” for going on an unauthorized spending spree:
April 8th 2023 ITB qualifies to the Paris Major.
The company experiences massive growth, a legacy and, if handled correctly, the foundation required to create a fully funded operation supporting several esport aspirations and capable of going years into the future.
Veb, Kuba, Momo, Bainy, Blainey, Punico and more recently Bevve, TeaGuv and Raine all played their part perfectly, and deserve every opportunity afforded to them. Brilliant people and innately hard working.
Unfortunately, I, the CEO, was acting as two people – one trying to match their efforts and another a destructive, alcoholic narcissist hellbent on self-immolation. I think everyone whose met me has likely seen one of these two sides, with the former able to convince everyone around me I was a sensible person, acting responsibly and not betraying their trust, while the later disappears in fiendish pursuit of dopamine and self-harm. The ultimate caricature which embodies the worst of people and this industry.
The result is a house of cards repeatedly knocked down and then rebuilt hastily in the wake of my actions. We still managed to achieve a lot despite sabotage, which just goes to show what could have been achieved without it. Today, that house falls permanently, and I nor anyone around me can fix it.
ITB goes under, people lose employment, salaries will go unpaid, money lost, hate created – all my fault and responsibility.
They’ll be several legal consequences of this, all of which I’ll accept and face. People will be made as whole as possible with what funds are available. This’ll be managed outside my influence.
Sorry will fall rightly flat and on deaf ears, but I’m sorry not the less.
For anyone not wanting to become another cliché example of how to fuck up your life – fix your character flaws, mental and destructive tendencies before you find success, otherwise you’ll just build on wet sand.
I’ll keep comms open for anyone that needs it.
In a subsequent post he claimed that he paid players what they were owed—which was almost immediately disputed by players like Karol ‘rallen’ Rodowicz and Thomas ‘Thomas’ Utting (and many others from various teams).
Into The Breach operated professional esports teams in Dota 2, Counter-Strike 2, Rainbow Six Siege, sim racing, and Halo.
Esports Olympic Games Not Happening in 2025
The Esports Olympic Games have been postponed until 2026 or 2027, according to a report from SportsBusiness. The Saudi Arabian government and the International Olympic Committee announced a 12-year deal to host the first officially sanctioned esports competitions in Saudi Arabia last summer.
But sources close to the situation told The Esports Advocate on Tuesday that the decision was mostly made by the IOC, who wanted to have more time to create a better structure for the competitions. There has also been some speculation that the Saudi government was not ready to launch such a grandiose endeavor this year, and is likely focusing on building out/improving its Esports World Cup property for the summer.
The IOC-Saudi Arabian Government deal was formally announced at the 142nd IOC Session in Paris, where the IOC Executive Board voted unanimously to officially form the Olympic Esports Games, with the first event to be held in Saudi Arabia in 2025.
The IOC took a fair amount of criticism in 2023 when it offered a series of competitions for the Olympic Esports Series using virtually unknown games that had financial ties to sports federations/esports federations such as Tic Tac Bow and Virtual Taekwondo.
The deal itself has also had a fair share of criticism as it gives the Saudi government complete control of anything esports Olympics-related for more than a decade and is overshadowed by the fact that the IOC did not follow its own human rights framework when it selected the country as a host for the next 12 years. Human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have criticized the government of Saudi Arabia for its treatment of political prisoners, many of whom are women publicly supporting women’s rights, such as Manahel al-Otaibi.
🌎News From Around the World🌎
🤔What is the next stage of esports?
🤔Microsoft CEO: Xbox games on PS5 are a good thing.
📢 Heroes of Newerth makes a triumphant return as a free-to-play game.
👎🏼Phoenix Labs hit with layoffs, closure.
👎🏼Star Wars Outlaws and Skull and Bones developers hit with layoffs.
🔮 Valorant Challengers NA 2025 schedule detailed.
🔮 Brawl Stars esports schedule for 2025.
🔮Battlegrounds Mobile India 2025 plans.
🔮Bihar plans to host its first international esports competition in 2025.
🔮The very first Marvel Rivals esports competition revealed.
🔮Call of Duty League Major IV coming to DreamHack Dallas.
😇Activision donates to LA wildfire relief efforts.
😇Blizzard also donates to wildfire relief efforts in LA.
👊🏼Live service games are chart toppers.
😟Warzone players say they are owed prize money.
🕵🏼♀️A look back at Fortnite creator milestones in 2024.
💰Echelon invests $3M USD in web 3/crypto firm Parallel.
💰Davis Commodities and esports platform Kohai invest in AI.
🚫UK government clips UK regulator chair in new shakeup to improve competition.
🤝🏼ROG Academy partners with Global Esports in India.
🤝🏼Feed Construct partners with GRID Esports.
🚌Leanne Loombe joins Annapurna.
🚌Erik Anderson named Esports Trade Association board chair.
🚌Matt Atwood becomes director of marketing at Razer.
🚌Brooke Rascoff promoted to head of global music marketing and partnerships at Riot.
😷20/35😷
I will have completed 20 radiation treatments by the time you read this newsletter. I hope to be done with this by Feb. 20—give or take a few days—barring any complications or issues. The biggest challenge right now is not choking; I will be sitting on my couch and suddenly saliva will go down my windpipe causing me to choke for a short time. It has become so frequent that I can always tell when it is about to happen. I am doing exercises to strengthen my neck and improve swallowing, but it’s all very hard work.
My neck is incredibly red right now; it’s like I have spent the last few months out in the Florida sun working without any sunscreen. They gave me some cream to put on it after every treatment but it’s not working yet. Fingers crossed that it does.
Being out and about in the world is dangerous right now, and doubly harrowing when around other sick people. The hospital has raised the alert level to Yellow, so I'm probably going to have to start wearing a mask during daily visits as I don't want to catch bird flu, Mpox, or tuberculosis, which has apparently made a comeback in the U.S. But even getting the common cold or the flu could really mess me up right now.
I have gained 10 lbs. Since I started treatment, which is a really good thing, I’m not having trouble eating, and I can still talk, though it is incredibly difficult to talk for long without making my throat sore. Even after these treatments are over I am going to need time to recover, which means I won’t be hosting any concerts anytime soon…
That’s where we are at right now with the whole cancer thing. I’m trying to work every day but sometimes I’m just so tired that I can’t do it. I feel lazy and useless when this happens because (as anyone who has worked closely with me over the last 29 years will tell you) I LOVE working. I can’t wait to get back to normal–we have a lot of work to do in covering this shifting industry—but the most important work I can do is getting better. This is all to say be patient with me for a few more months, because when I come back I’m going to turn things up 1000%. Thank you for being here with me on this journey - James.