Natus Vincere have announced that they have withdrawn from the Esports Championship Series (ECS)

In a statement, Na`Vi cite "an overly busy schedule and tiredness" as the reasons to pull out of the $3.5 million league, in which they were the only team without any game played.

Last week, Na`Vi announced that they would skip the CEVO Gfinity Season 9 Finals, to which they had been invited, in order to prepare for other tournaments and to give Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács more time to recover from his hand injury.



Na`Vi skip ECS

With the team failing to qualify for the ESL Pro League Season 3 Finals after finishing the online stage in fifth place, their next offline events will be the SL i-League Invitational #1 and ELEAGUE.

"It's a shame that we have to miss such big LANs as DreamHack Austin 2016 and a debut season of ECS," Na`Vi coach Sergei "starix" Ishchuk said in a statement. "However, the tiredness after many long-haul flights and immensely intense matches has been putting the pressure onto me, as well, although I am not a player. "I hope that this pause will help us restore our energy and continue delighting fans with our great results in 2016."

Na`Vi were last seen in action at DreamHack Masters Malmö, where they finished in second place following a 0-2 defeat against Ninjas in Pyjamas in the final.

ECS co-organisers FACEIT and Twitch have yet to comment on this matter. In ECS, which will pay out $3.5 million over the first two seasons, competing teams are offered co-ownership, which means that they get seats on the league's governing committee and a share of the revenue generated by the tournament.