Apex Legends league looking to ‘resolve’ gaffe that awarded more than $100,000 prize money incorrectly
An Apex Legends esports player said he was erroneously sent more than $100,000 in tournament money after playing just a few games in the Apex Legends Global Series earlier this year. After several other players reported issues with payment — including drastically decreased awards — tournament organizer ESL FACEIT Group is claiming responsibility for the gaffe.
“Due to a systems error, a number of players in recent Apex Legends Global Series competitions received incorrect prize payouts,” an ESL FACEIT representative told Polygon. “As the partner responsible for prize fulfillment, we’re working to quickly resolve this issue and ensure that all players receive the correct prize payouts.”
Apex Legends Global Series is developer Respawn Entertainment and publisher Electronic Arts’ official Apex Legends esports league that kicked off for the year in January. It’s split into different regions, which then leads into regional events and a championship round. Zeddo, the Apex Legends player who was paid out $100,000, participated in a few games with Native Gaming and was expecting a much smaller payout.
“I was just waiting to get paid for what I played, which was only a weekend with N8V,” Zeddo told Polygon over direct message. “Was streaming when I got that email notification congratulating me for ‘finishing first in split 1 pro league.’”
He told Polygon it was “shocking” and “a little scary” to have so much money dropped into his account. “I hope it doesn’t affect me and my taxes or something,” Zeddo said. “[It’s also] motivating. 100k is life-changing money and it got me thinking about what I would really do to change my life if it was actually mine.”
Chase “Shooby” Vasquez is one of a few other players who reported being incorrectly paid a lesser amount than expected: The team he played with, Elev8 Gaming, earned $11,000 for 16th place in the playoffs and $6,000 for sixth place in the North American event. Individually, this meant he earned $5,600 — but he was only paid
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