"I feel like an exhausted, chronically ill 19-year-old whose org he built over 2 years just got shot in the back of the head.”
After conversations with former and remaining Timeless staff, Kryix has pieced together the events that led to the mass exodus of most of Timeless’s renowned social media and creative team as well as its founder.
Ticking Clock
Plans for Timeless to sign the FMCL roster had been in place since before DreamHack Dallas. Timeless ownership had initially believed that when or if they qualified, the roster would be bought out by an EWC Club Support Program (CSP) team. Organizations in the Club Support Program get stipends from the Esports World Cup Foundation to participate in as many games as possible. What Timeless did not know was that the deadline for CSP partner teams to sign rosters for EWC was June 13, before FACEIT playoffs began. That is why there was a flurry of signings right before FACEIT League playoffs, with CSP organizations like Fnatic, Virtus.pro, and Gaimin Gladiators signing teams that had qualified or were sure bets to qualify for the Esports World Cup. Timeless should have been aware of the signing deadline and thus should have made a stronger, concerted push to get signed or partnered with a CSP organization before the playoffs (e.g., T1, FaZe, etc.). Alternatively, it’s possible that despite Timeless’s best efforts before and after playoffs partner organizations may not have thought Timeless’s roster was likely to secure the hotly contested 3rd North American spot for EWC. “By the time our team qualified, no partnered orgs could receive EWC money anymore,” said founder and former owner Chase. Amusingly, in their FACEIT League playoffs run, Timeless knocked out NRG and TSM, both EWC-partnered organizations.
However, we were able to locate the EWC club participation deadline in two clicks on the official EWC website: the page “Rules and Regulations” reads that “an organization can only earn points for the Club Championship for participants that were (publicly and - if applicable - towards the tournament administration) part of that organization before the deadline at 23:59 AST on Thursday, 13th of June 2024.” This deadline only applies to the Club Championship, meaning another organization or team can still sign Timeless’s roster, but they would simply not be eligible for Club Championship points. While the EWC site is not found easily through the FACEIT website or rulebook, it is still an easily avoidable oversight. That lack of foresight meant that when Timeless did qualify—after a thrilling 3-2 win over NRG Shock—the organization had a choice to make.
There was no winning scenario for Timeless—participate, and be morally compromised; back out, and put their players at risk.
The team looked into various options including, but not limited to: partnering with an existing organization, fielding the roster under one of the other Overwatch brands that Chase had spearheaded over the years, or continuing to financially support the players even without the Timeless brand. Chase said, “If we were to find them a better opportunity, and not have the Timeless brand in EWC, I would have stayed with the org until we figured out what direction we wanted to take for the future.” Ultimately, the players expressed that they wanted to play as Timeless unless a better offer arose. At that point, Chase and Tim, the two owners who were not comfortable participating in EWC, bowed out of the organization, with Chase promising to stay on until EWC to assist financially and operationally.
Broken Glass
A few days after the owners’ call, a storm of resignations and departures swept through Timeless’s social media and creative team. A former staff member said, “A majority of our staff being part of the LGBTQ+ [community] did not feel comfortable doing game day and any coverage whatsoever as the current administration of EWC is against everything we have built within the community… sparking CAH and having a place that marginalized people can play and be themselves without needing to worry.” Timeless has been at the forefront of supporting Calling All Heroes, even fielding multiple teams at times and marshaling the Timeless Ethereal dynasty that won 6 tournaments including the 2023-2024 championship. In a tweet, former Creative Lead MoMo said “The people at the organization have nothing but my love but unfortunately the cookie crumbled in diff [sic] directions and I can’t support that.”
Why the sudden mass resignation? It wasn’t just because of EWC. Former Social Lead Instinct said, “I told them I personally would be sitting out and not participating in covering EWC.” According to former social media manager Fuckitseominsoo, Instinct gave the socials team a “decision on whether they would want to cover EWC or not, with many of us opting not to cover EWC.” Words like “sitting out” and “opting” indicate that, for many staff members, staying with the organization was on the table. They simply did not want to cover the Esports World Cup.
Whether the brand continues or not, Timeless as we know it is dead.
Irreconcilable Differences
The ownership meeting on June 25th changed how staff viewed the situation. Instinct did not mince words about how the meeting changed her decision, saying “The stuff said in that meeting is frankly disgusting, immoral, and goes against EVERYTHING Timeless has stood for since day 1.” The fateful owners’ call quickly became heated and argumentative, with MFG and Tim Zheng feeling insulted. According to MFG, Zheng, who is also the CEO of Vite Ramen, told him to ask people from the LGBTQ community their thoughts on the matter. Kryix has independently verified that this outreach took place. MFG says “I don't think [Tim] expected that they would mostly say it makes sense we would go or some even saying that we should.” One of the contacted LGBTQ Overwatch community members told Kryix “Reading it over again, sounds like the decision had already been made, and they were looking for some of us to legitimize it.” MFG characterized this outreach as genuine, good-faith attempts to guide ownership’s decisions. The key disagreement was whether Timeless, as a brand, should participate in the Esports World Cup. MFG was staunchly in favor, while Tim was firmly against.
"The stuff said in that meeting is frankly disgusting, immoral, and goes against EVERYTHING Timeless has stood for since day 1."
Chase said the disagreement was fundamental: “Tim genuinely believes in standing up for his morals over associating with an EWC brand, I feel the same way. MFG and Doc believe in standing up for the players and the future of the org even if their morals stand against what they’re supporting, which I simply can’t blame them for.” There was no winning scenario for Timeless—participate, and be morally compromised; back out, and put their players at risk. Damned if you, damned if you don’t. MFG said that Timeless has Tier 1 ambitions, and he worried for the organization’s future if they did not participate: “If we didn't go I feared that would be the end since this is where the scene is going.”
Player security also factored into the discussion. One idea considered was sourcing a security team for the players in Saudi Arabia. “It wasn't like this is something we thought about for a few mins [sic] like some people seem to be thinking,” said one owner.
Chase bemoaned the entire situation, saying that he “wish[es] the other owners focused more on the overall problem than the disagreement with each other.” He elaborated, saying “We HAD A CONCLUSION. This is SOLVED. Maybe ‘solved’ is a stretch, but we had an answer and a plan. We keep searching for a better opportunity for the team, and if we don't find anything they play under Timeless, and those who weren't morally okay with it would leave the organization while still supporting the players.” The prevailing feeling was one of regret over how the situation had played out. “Timeless was everything to me and I’m heartbroken. It shouldn’t have gone down like this. I feel like an exhausted, chronically ill 19-year-old whose org he built over 2 years just got shot in the back of the head.”
"No Respect"
The social media and creative team was left out of these conversations. Instinct said, “Members of staff assumed that we would have the respect of being at least asked [what] we think but we never did get asked.” She went out of her way to tell ownership that some staff were not comfortable with doing gameday coverage for EWC. While Timeless has had success on the battlefield, like their Flash Ops: Holiday Showdown victory, a lot of the organization’s growth was driven by the social media and creative team. The social media team includes former Overwatch League social media managers like Chase, Instinct, and Fuckitseominsoo. Members of this talented team felt spurned by the pro-EWC owners’ course of action and felt like they were being left out of key decisions. Social media managers and graphic designers do not make these kinds of organization-shaping decisions at most corporate esports organizations, but Timeless is not a corporate esports organization. Timeless, more than most other organizations, was built by its creative team.
Timeless’s aforementioned Tier 1 ambitions caused staff to feel overlooked in key decision-making processes. One former staff member said of the remaining owners, “[they] simply have no respect for the staff that are fielded on their teams. All they care about is clout and business opportunities and ways to show that they are part of the ecosystem.” Once Timeless’s participation in EWC was confirmed, the tenor of the staff changed.
“If we didn't go I feared that would be the end since this is where the scene is going.”
Former owner Tim’s post on Twitter also exacerbated the situation. At that point, many staff members wanted to leave entirely. Chase’s departure was also a contributing factor. He explained, “It's also worth noting that a lot of the staff members and I are extremely close friends, and many of them told me they were simply not interested in working with Timeless if I was not there.” Once the cards fell in such a way that Chase was going to leave Timeless, some of the staff who wanted to stay, but not participate in EWC, now had little reason to stay.
Shattered Time
The end of the Overwatch League was supposed to open the door for grassroots esports organizations, but the line between Tier 2 and Tier 1 is a tempestuous barrier to cross. In the current esports environment, it is difficult to cross that line while keeping one’s integrity intact. Timeless was put in a difficult situation, partially from leadership’s lack of due diligence regarding the EWC Club Championship deadline and, more broadly, because the current state of esports forces players, staff, and creatives to make ethical trade-offs for the sake of competing. As Chase put it “the real problem is that we had to make this choice in the first place because of the current state of Overwatch and esports as a whole.”
Ultimately, the team’s players and coaches will fight their hardest to make it out of a tough Group D at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Unless a better opportunity arises, it will be as Timeless. Timeless has financial resources, but not the deepest pockets in the world, so another, wealthier player in the scene may buy the roster. Whether the brand continues or not, Timeless as we know it is dead. Timeless is not Timeless without the guiding hands of the young, outstanding talents who built the organization.
留言