After speculation last week, FaZe Clan has announced that it will no longer be a part of the WESA organisation.
Rumours first started appearing last week that said the organisation was looking to back out of WESA, after being unhappy with certain areas. Today FaZe confirmed in a statement on Facebook that they are leaving WESA saying, WESA still has lots of challenges to overcome”.
Over the recent days there has been some speculation to whether or not FaZe Clan will be leaving WESA,” read the statement. Today, we are confirming our departure from the Association. FaZe Clan is an organization built with true gamers and true gaming fans. We have a responsibility to voice our opinion and do what’s right for all our members, creators, players and most importantly, our fans; which really is our true voice.”
ESPN reports that the FaZe organisation had made its concerns clear to the rest of the WESA members prior to the announcement just a few weeks ago, however when it saw the public message of WESA FaZe became even more concerned and decided to back out of the organisation.
FaZe denied rumours that it would have to pay a significant fine for leaving WESA, and mentioned that the team is still on positive terms with ESL, and will continue to compete in its competitions.
Finally, WESA and ESL are two different organizations,” said FaZe in the statement. ESL has been good to us, showed understanding and assured us that even if we aren’t in WESA, we’ll be invited to their leagues and tournaments. In other words: We are leaving on good terms.”
This move is a significant blow for the WESA organisation, which was already unpopular with fans thanks to the slightly unclear messaging and reluctance to talk on certain key areas.
Following the statment from FaZe, a WESA spokesperson said the following.
"Creating an association such as WESA from the ground up is an immense undertaking for all involved parties and something that requires enormous commitment of time and effort. While we regret the fact that FaZe has decided to take this step and are disappointed to see them go, we understand and accept their decision to put their current focus elsewhere."
"WESA’s next important steps surround players and overall more tangible rules and structure. This includes an election of the Players Council, the appointment of players in the Executive Board, the formalization of the Arbitration Court to prevent future wrongdoings between teams and/or/towards players, and expanding the number of members of the association. You will be the first to know about any of these updates as soon as they occur."