EPTExcerpt
Kim “GanZi” Dong Joo says his “heart and pride as a gamer were deeply hurt” during contract negotiations with his former team compLexity Gaming.
GanZi, who had spent nine months with coL, told ESFI that things that were said during his recent contract negotiation with coL owner Jason Lake in a private conversation at IPL5 left him no choice but to choose to leave the team.
“I received an unreasonable demand and deeply hurtful comment as a human being from compLexity,” GanZi said. “[Jason Lake and I] started talking, and during the conversation, he demanded me to sign a new contract, which would have decreased my salary by half. When asked why, he mentioned that my performance hasn’t been good due to injury, and the team decided that they wanted to sign a more famous and skilled player. My contract still had five months left on it, and the contract did not have any clauses to modify the content of the contract, which made me unable to accept his demand.”...
...Following GanZi’s interview, his statement was relayed to Jason Lake in order to verify GanZi’s claims.
“That version of events is simply not true,” Lake told ESFI after reading GanZi’s comments. “I am saddened he has chosen to portray our hour long conversation in this manner. There were no 'demands' made. We simply offered GanZi a lesser salary for 2013 (his contract expires in March) due to his long-standing injury but offered to include provisions that would return him to his previous amount should he return to full-time play. We have stood loyally by him through his challenging health issues that even saw him drop out of live events like MLG Arena and MLG Raleigh. I personally campaigned for him to receive an invitation to HomeStory Cup. We do our best to treat our players fairly and I am very disappointed by his version of these events. Beyond that, I feel it's not appropriate to elaborate more on confidential contract negotiations. We thank GanZi for his time in our organization and wish him the very best in the future.”
GanZi, who had spent nine months with coL, told ESFI that things that were said during his recent contract negotiation with coL owner Jason Lake in a private conversation at IPL5 left him no choice but to choose to leave the team.
“I received an unreasonable demand and deeply hurtful comment as a human being from compLexity,” GanZi said. “[Jason Lake and I] started talking, and during the conversation, he demanded me to sign a new contract, which would have decreased my salary by half. When asked why, he mentioned that my performance hasn’t been good due to injury, and the team decided that they wanted to sign a more famous and skilled player. My contract still had five months left on it, and the contract did not have any clauses to modify the content of the contract, which made me unable to accept his demand.”...
...Following GanZi’s interview, his statement was relayed to Jason Lake in order to verify GanZi’s claims.
“That version of events is simply not true,” Lake told ESFI after reading GanZi’s comments. “I am saddened he has chosen to portray our hour long conversation in this manner. There were no 'demands' made. We simply offered GanZi a lesser salary for 2013 (his contract expires in March) due to his long-standing injury but offered to include provisions that would return him to his previous amount should he return to full-time play. We have stood loyally by him through his challenging health issues that even saw him drop out of live events like MLG Arena and MLG Raleigh. I personally campaigned for him to receive an invitation to HomeStory Cup. We do our best to treat our players fairly and I am very disappointed by his version of these events. Beyond that, I feel it's not appropriate to elaborate more on confidential contract negotiations. We thank GanZi for his time in our organization and wish him the very best in the future.”
