A number of professional Counter Strike: Global Offensive players are looking to band together to give themselves more rights as a group than they could hope to have alone. They claim that the Professional eSports Association (PEA) is trying to force them out of the ESL Pro League, so that it has less competition. Players obviously don't like having the choice of where to play removed from them, so they're looking to do something about it.
The PEA was only founded in September this year and was supposed to offer an alternative place for games to take place, without middle men taking the cream of the crop. It's made up of teams, who shared profits between themselves, whilst also handing out prize money. But the ESL is much more well established and it sounds like the PEA has been trying to force players to stop playing for it, in order to help grow its own organisation.
"Our owners had always given us the clear impression that we held the final say when it came to where we competed. In a profession where so much of your income depends on your performance and brand exposure, being able to choose where you play is vital," one player said (via PCGN).
However that's the real problem they're now facing. Contractual obligations could force players not to play in competing leagues, which is no good if the PEA doesn't offer the same monetary compensation as they would receive elsewhere.
Now that this problem is out in the open, we await the next move of the PEA to see what it does. Hopefully, it supports the players.
