EnVision Esports staff will be paid outstanding salaries if Dot Esports pulls two articles, says former CEO
Update: Artur Minacov says invoices have been sent to pay players allegedly owed thousands of dollars
Update: Ex-EnVision CEO Artur Minacov has stated that the players owed money will be paid today.
"I have sent the players invoices to my bank manager, and he is supposed to wire it today," he said. "I will update Nicole when it is done."
Original Story:
The former CEO of a now defunct tier two Overwatch team continues to hold out payments owed to his ex-staff, saying he will only pay their outstanding salaries if Dot Esports removes two published articles from its site.
Artur Minacov told Dot Esports that former staff of the EnVision Overwatch team, who are reportedly owed thousands of dollars, will be paid for their final month of work if Dot Esports removes two articles chronicling the dissolution of the team, and subsequent fallout.
Contacting Dot Esports via direct message on Twitter, Minacov wrote: "Clearly your goal is to get those players to get paid, so remove those two articles, and I will show the prove [sic] of payment within 24 hours, and if I fail so, you can write all the bad things you want on me."
EnVision Esports disbanded its Overwatch team in June this year after being knocked out of the Overwatch Contender semi-finals.
Minacov told Dot Esports in August that the players would be paid within 30 to 45 days. He then offered the ultimatum to Dot Esports with over a week of his self-imposed deadline remaining.
"You are tarnishing my reputation based on the fact that the last month was not paid," he told the esports publication. "But there are so much great things I did for this org and the guys. I do not appreciate those articles being around."
Before calling for the articles to be removed, he described Dot Esports' reporting as "retarded and discusting [sic]".
Minacov then took to Reddit where, in a post since deleted, he said: "Since this story got to [Dot Esports reporter] Nicole from one of them, I can only say that whoever started this which [sic] hunt is one ungrateful fucker. For my end, lessons learned."
Since disbanding the organisation, Minacov moved on to a role as publisher and investor for in-development esports title, The Forge Arena.
GamesIndustry.biz has reached out for Minacov for comment, and is awaiting response.