Activision has shut down 100 Thieves’ four-week Call of Duty: Warzone charity tournament for racial injustice. Last week 100 Thieves announced the Gamers for Equality tournament series to support organizations furthering racial equality. Over the course of four weeks, they would be donating $100,000 for the support of the Black Lives Matter movement. These donations would be coming directly from 100 Thieves’ biggest sponsors, JBL Audio and Cash App. The first tournament was set to take place on June 18; however, Activision put a stop to the entire event.
Unfortunately, Activision has denied our request to use Warzone for this charity tournament so we'll need to postpone Gamers For Equality. We hope to still host this tournament and are working to find alternative solutions. https://t.co/rZAeYIMCQj
— 100 Thieves (@100Thieves) June 17, 2020
100 Thieves released a statement on Twitter the day before the event regarding Activision’s decision to deny their request. This announcement outraged the entire gaming community who was looking forward to donating to Gamers for Equality. Activision has already been under fire recently with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, with its poor customer service, constant bugs, and outrageous update sizes. Hence the enraged responses that 100 Thieves’ Twitter post received when the news was released. Users took to Twitter to express their frustration with Activision’s decision to stop the Gamers for Equality tournament.
100 Thieves Nadeshot responds
After seeing the events unfolding on Twitter, 100 Thieves CEO Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag released a video explaining what happened. In the video, Nadeshot addresses the drama circulating around Twitter and explains that it was blown out of proportion. He starts off by reminding his viewers that he made his career playing Call of Duty and loves the franchise, particularly Warzone, which he says he’s played for over seven hours a day for the last few months.
Wanted to take a minute to clear up what happened with 100 Thieves, CashApp and Activision earlier today in regards to our $100,000 Gamers for Equality tournament. pic.twitter.com/d51EgZwFiM
— 100T Nadeshot (@Nadeshot) June 17, 2020
Nadeshot explains how the tournament began with Cash App and JBL Audio donating the $100,000 to the Black Lives Matter movement. Then Activision came to them and explained that they couldn’t run tournaments without their permission. Activision’s main issue was with the sponsors and how they didn’t want 100 Thieves to monetize the event. Nadeshot expressed that 100 Thieves’ goal was not to make money off of the tournament but to simply raise awareness for a serious issue in America. 100 Thieves could only run the event if they removed their sponsors, which they couldn’t because it was the source of the donations.
Since Activision denied their request to run the tournament as is, Nadeshot confirmed that they would be moving the tournament to a different game. He did not reveal a specific date that this next tournament would take place on, nor the other game title. However, Nadeshot made sure to clarify that the $100,000 would still be going to the Black Lives Matter movement.
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