Now for the past month, we’ve been smack dab in the middle of this NiP controversy you might have heard about.
Players like Fifflaren, Xizt, Friberg and Draken have told us about not getting paid prize money, unpaid taxes and just general shady behavior.
But guess what, we spoke to NiP management on the record for two hours last week and according to them, there’s a logical explanation for all of this.
Hosted by: Devin Jones (@milkshks)
Edited by: Dennis Gonzales (@Tarmanydyn)
HeatoN headshot
Courtesy: betway esports
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Courtesy: ELEAGUE
Music used under license from Associated Production Music LLC (”APM”).
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46 comments
Hi everyone, we previously uploaded a version of this video with a small audio issue. We’ve since taken that version down and re-uploaded it with full audio. Thanks for watching!
Pro players need lawyers
I mean I can understand Hicham also.
can i watch old HeatoN movies yes/no
Well, seems like obviously big orgs like NiP use their brand and fame to put players into extremely exploitative contracts. Since eSports are still so hard to provide income as a career, players sign up even if the contracts are excessively unfair. Both Hisham and HeatoN are clearly some dishonest scumbags exploiting the players for money.
Still a mess
The streaming agreement is complete bullshit. These guys play 8+ hours of CSGO a day or more. Why force them to stream "10 hours" give them the 10 hours of break
I like how Hicham kept everything professional and didn't mention names, didn't stick to calling anyone else out… not like Heaton.
NiP in peace… Kidding! I'll always be a fan of the players! Great Video btw.
Hitcham sounds resonable tbh, but the problem I have with him why is he not proving his points. If friberg really did not stream for 14 month and owed the company this money, which exceeds his prize money, why not bring the streaming stats and show it? At least give thoses stats to the objective journalist so he can actually confirm it. Please do not tell me these statistic were deleted as every piece of data is so valuable nowadays. I am sure twitch would be able to find them quite quickly.
I'm a retired life long journalist. As a journalist you failed. Having both sides just tell their story is NOT balanced coverage despite the fact that most American broadcast journalists do just that. The most important question is one you didn't ask. Why should NIP get a dime for a benched player. This is not a case of a player wanting to leave that the team wanted to keep. In that case a team is owed compensation. That's not what's happening here. They've already fired the player, who then can sit on the bench & collect a full salary. The team gets nothing for that money. If the player leaves, the team is compensated by no longer having to pay the player for doing nothing. Also, the prize money is already earned. In American law, it's illegal to withhold money earned for any reason. This is what needed to be asked. Your softball questions allowed the CEO to say whatever he wanted as "his side" of the story & he wasn't challenged on any of it. If you wish to be referred to as a journalist, act like one. This video is not journalism.
Ty NIP for fucking my pick'em
What I've never gotten about these Esports groups is Why is any of the prize money given to the cooperations (first)? The prize money is for the team winning a paying place in a tourney THEY PLAYED IN. Personally I don't get why any of that goes to the cooperation at all (between sponsors, investors, merchandising and more they should just be happy the team is fighting in their branding); But with some of the prize going to them, it should be paid directly to the players by the tournaments, and then the players payout whatever their contracts asks of them.
As is, there's just so little power in for any player in any Esports cooperation, even if the players were responsible for handling prize money, there's no way they could just run away with it versus a contracted cooperation as well as versus no assured salary in that group or any new one ever again, nobody would let a literal thief in. But if your theif/cheater is your boss or cooperation… wtf are you gonna do, sue your contract owners who have much more money than they stole from you??? With the Prize money being paid to them at all, Most of this sounds like a failure of the tournaments themselves (their pay out system at least).
that rupert shirt is killing it.
it's crazy how many people associate being articulate with being a snake, hitchem didn't sound or seem like a snake to me, he had a reasonable explanation for every thing, we can't prove whether the intentions he presented were true or false either way, but I for one believe hitchem. Heaton on the other hand is guilty, at any job co workers who look out for you always tell you something to the effect of "if you weren't trained for this don't do it" or "don't sign something they tell you to sign if you don't know what it is or you didn't do it." he had to have known something, he knows more then he is letting on. and it's not cause he was stuttering or stumbling over his thoughts, it's because he was always trying to give us the "I don't know a lot about a lot, I only know a little bit about a little bit".
It's very clear that, while not illegal, those contracts were very predatory towards the players. Fined (what I'm sure is not an irrelevant amount) for not streaming, no renegotiating, no clear value or mechanism on how to get traded, so much information hidden away from the players in fine print. What NIP did after the Thai Heist may not be illegal, but it sure sounds immoral.
You don't pay a player their prize money, you are a scumbag. Period. End of story.
Digibro is that you???
You guys should make a don't @ me video about the IWillDominate vs Mark Merill, founder of riot games situation and just the negative things coming out about Riot Games in general
You can tell this Hishim guy is full of shit, He’s just a money hungry grabber. Good luck to the future NIP players contracts if there is a future for NIP.
Hitchem seems like he knows how to run a business, the players clearly arent business savvy and they absolutely need to be if they dont have an agent. Everything Hitchem said is very fair provided it was communicated exactly as he says it here,(which is unlikely). But I think this is an example of shit hitting the fan and players trying to get off a ship they are afraid will sink. What they dont understand is that business owners have trust issues, Hitchem even says he wanted to reserve the right to stop things whenever he deems necessary to protect his investment. If the players tried to get their money and tie up loose ends before trying to leave I think they would have far fewer problems. Also 2 hours a week of streaming is not that much, the fact he wouldnt do that just to get the brand and his own face out there was lazy, sloppy, and dumb.
"we see it as more of a signing incentive than pressuring method" hmmm what phrase does this remind us of? i think EA saying surprise mechanics instead of lootboxes
Rubert the Bear!
God this is so bullshit just all of it, and at the end of the day even if he didn’t pressure them into forfeiting their prize money the fact that the player is taking a hit instead of one of the organizations is laughable. Like you can windowdress everything and spin it but no matter how that ones put that’s still never the responsibility of the player
Hicham seems almost sociopathic. There should be an Esports union so players can have recourse if they get screwed by their team.
so ultimately what i'm hearing is players were breaching contract (ie not streaming for excessive periods of time, or trying to leave while under contract) and now the players are mad they don't get the benefits of the contract….? for breaching contract…?
Management should be more like an agent, less like a giant corporation running the show. i watch cs to watch the players, fuck the management
Fuck Hicham im not impressed
PSHHH spin it however you like not paying out prize money is weak as fuckkkkk
has this been turned into a playlist yet? i feel like i miss some things
Support the players not the company………….
Everything hischam is saying makes sense. As a business owner myself I can sympathize with his side cuz I know what it's like to be painted as the bad guy
Is that Kevin from Vsauce2????
All I want to know is what does PPD think.
So considering there is so much emphasis on friberg streaming hours, how many hours have the other 4 players made in the same time period?
This guy is bad… Change him
What I learned from this video is basically Hicham teaching me how to exploit employee's by using their contract.
HeatoN sounds like he's some corporate manager who tries to save his ass by saying 'I don't know about anything'.
what about the dude that said he didnt took the money to thailand but they said he did?
please buy a fresh razor
NIP CEO IS A FUCKIng SCUBAG!
Guy's two-faced. Keeps on making excuses.
And then you have Tfue crying about how they COULD take his money.
God damn if you compared both stories you can tell which one is actually more serious. If Tfue's lawyer actually wanted to make a change for the gaming community he would help people like friberg.
25k out that mans pocket. I would be furious…..
Heaton sounds real sketch. He's stammering so much and raising his voice in confusing places. Think he's got some trash.
Yo how the hell do they keep getting interviews with all these people in hot water?
I can see taking the players side and some of the iffy things HeatoN has been saying but ill say this… 14 months with out streaming when you were supposed to be streaming 10 hours a week? I don't know dawg that is a bit on Friberg on that one. If it is true of course.
Most teams take a portion of the entire winnings then divvy it up to the players after the org takes their cut. This "creative" way of keeping their portion of the prize money to release is absolutely ridiculous.
As far as the streaming goes, when you have so many tournaments (as ESL does…at least one every month with a couple months where there aren't any) your teams are traveling and practicing. So to put a streaming stipulation on top of that is ludicrous and appalling.