It is with a very heavy heart we announce that 100 Thieves will not be participating in competitive Call of Duty in 2020. pic.twitter.com/cdJD9DdUvQ — 100 Thieves (@100Thieves) August 29, 2019

Esports is something I’m very passionate about and it’s why I try to do a post every weekend about the LCS. I could do more involving esports and in the future it’s something I hope to do but I’m also a normal guy who loves sports and beer just like most people who read Branded. I don’t even like most sports, the only sport I genuinely love is basketball. I’m obsessed with it but I love competition more than anything and that’s why I, at the bare minimum, stay up to date with all major American sports. I can have a three hour conversation about Baseball with some Baseball hardo and I fucking hate that sport. I’m the same way with esports. I haven’t played Call of Duty since Black Ops and I was never really into the competitive scene, mostly because when I liked COD I didn’t know esports was a thing. Fast forward to present time I wouldn’t say I could have a full show on COD esports but I know enough to get by and it’s like that with CS:GO, Fortnite etc.

I saw all of that nonsense in the hopes that a hardcore COD fan reading this won’t just ignore what I have to say because I’m not part of that community. 100 Thieves not being apart of the CDL next year is very bad. 100T is a newer org that has done well in pretty much every avenue they’ve dove into. They are much more Faze then they are your typical esports company, it is a content/entertainment company that just happens to do very well in the competitive scene. I think the franchising route that some esport leagues are going is very smart to bring fans and outsiders into the game. Make it more comparable to traditional sports, you might not give a fuck about Optic Gaming but maybe you’ll be interested in the Houston Outlaws, maybe you couldn’t care less about Cloud 9 but you love watching the London Spitfire play. It makes the transition easier for regular people who otherwise don’t care about gaming.

The downside to franchising is what is unfolding right now. 100 Thieves is a brand and not only are they a brand but they are new. Nadeshot, former COD pro and owner of 100 Thieves/guy in the video, has done an outstanding job starting this company and making it what it is today. As a former pro and someone who very clearly not only loves esports but is a die hard COD fan, this must have hurt. He talks about how expensive it would be to join the league but he even eludes to it in the video, they could do it. It would be hard but it could be done. It is so hard to ask a new company that is brand orientated to rebrand and also pay upwards of 30 million dollars.

This news is very bad for the CDL and I wouldn’t be shocked if a team like Faze did the same thing as 100T.

there is now a good possibility the start of Activision Blizzard's 2020 Call of Duty League will not have some its most iconic teams in FaZe and 100 Thieves, and an OpTic organization without a heart or soul a sad state for Call of Duty esports — Rod Breslau (@Slasher) August 29, 2019

@EJS_4

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