Ex-LGD Gaming players say team has financial woes

Social media reports have been alluding to potential financial woes hounding one of Dota 2’s most popular teams, LGD Gaming. 

A Chinese Youtube channel named “Dota Lin” is reportedly making an expose about what the channel claims are sources that can show reported financial difficulties within the organization.

In the video, Dota Lin’s channel titled it “Is LGD Facing Bankruptcy?”, and cites ex-players Wang “Ame” Chunyu, Yang “Chalice” Shenyi, and Da Fei, LGD’s general manager.

Chalice said in the clip, “Just before, before TI qualifiers, pay me all at once. When I was with Ehome, it seemed like there was no news after that. But Old Eleven and others probably didn’t get it either.”

He added, “mainly they said they would send it, but ever did.” This was referring to his bonuses after his performance in The International or TI10.

As for Ame, he claimed LGD was “cutting costs” lately, and moved its base of operations from Shanghai to Changsha. “Since they’re not renting the Shanghai place anymore, they should pay me back my money, right? Hope LGD pays me back soon.”

 

Esports.net also reported that LGD’s operational costs had reportedly surged to US$20 million annually during the pandemic, a significant increase from its pre-pandemic expenditure of merely $9 million per year. 

 

“This financial strain was attributed to a combination of factors. These include heightened operational expenses and reduced sponsorship revenue, which plummeted from $10 million to $3 million annually,” Esports.net reported.

 

Other allegations in the video that were discussed are how newer LGD players are hinting at being underpaid by changing their IGNs to “vagabond” or “homeless”, increasing salaries to players to combat the esports debut of Elephant, and increased costs despite the axing of sponsorship deals such as the case of their former partnership with Paris Saint-Germain Football Club.

 

“Moreover, the narrative of financial distress is further supported by LGD staff and players’ social media activity, hinting at underpayment issues within the organization, Esports.net also reported.

 

This is despite LGD Gaming’s multi-million dollar winnings as one of Dota 2’s best teams. The team has won over US$25 million in prize money, such as placing 3rd in TI 2015 (winning US$2.2 million), 4th at TI 2017 (US$1.7million), runner-up at TI 2018 (US$4 million), 3rd place at TI 2019 (US$3 million), runner up at TI 2021 (US$5 million), and winning the Riyadh Masters 2022 (US$1.5 million).

At the moment, Fragster cannot independently verify the authenticity of the channel’s claims and is reaching out to the uploader for more context.