Apex Pros angry: Where is the HER Galaxy tournament prize money ?

Several Apex Legends pro players are angry because they have been waiting quite a long time for their prize money from the HER Galaxy tournament. The event was held six months ago.

In May and June 2023, the women’s esports tournament HER Galaxy was held, which was endowed with prize money of 100,000 dollars. The aim was to increase the visibility and recognition of women in the field of Apex Legends tournaments. Despite the initial enthusiasm, the tournament then encountered numerous hurdles over time and drew a lot of criticism. Most of the criticism has to do with the management of the event and the limited entry requirements, which only allowed North American players to participate.

This geographical limitation excluded many talented players from other regions and affected relationships within the already small community of professional players. Teams were split up and players had to form new teams at short notice in order to participate. This made many pros angry – but that’s not all.

Team Cuties is still owed 40k

The disagreements continued with the organization of the tournament.
Participants complained about poor communication on the part of the organizers. In addition, months after the end of the tournament, the promised prize money has still not been paid out. In particular, Team Cuties, who won the tournament, are still waiting for the promised 40,000 dollars. The players in question are Kathleen, Val and Melani.

 

Twitter @hergalaxygg

Where has HER Galaxy gone?

The situation was further exacerbated when HER Galaxy announced it was moving away from esports tournaments to focus on content creation and streaming – as so many institutions and players have done recently. An email sent to the winners shortly before this announcement promised payment of the outstanding funds for December 2023, but the email was met with much suspicion and the players still do not believe that they will receive the money, as there was radio silence long beforehand and the players’ inquiries were simply ignored. Whether they will really be paid in December and whether they will still receive the 40k is not yet clear and remains to be seen.

There is a lot of uncertainty and disappointment within the community. Teams have felt ghosted and their time wasted while waiting for a payment that may never come. The abuses in the payment of prizes in women’s esports leagues are not an isolated incident and highlight a worrying trend within the scene.

There was also a similar incident in Rocket League: participants and staff in the Rocket League Women’s Car Ball series were not paid for months by the league owners Gamers First.