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Former XSET Valorant players file lawsuit against the organization over owed funds [UPDATED]

Former XSET players and their coach allege the organization failed to pay them their share of revenue from the Champions 2022 skin bundle.

Donovan Erskine

August 29, 2023 2:30 PM

XSET

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Updated on August 29, 2023, at 3:07 p.m. PT: Following the publishing of this article, XSET reached out to Shacknews and provided the following statement:

The rest of the article remains as originally written.

As Valorant Champions 2023 comes to an end, some unexpected drama has hit the scene. XSET, an American esports organization that competes in Valorant, is facing a fresh lawsuit from former players and a coach. The lawsuit alleges that the organization failed to share the 50 percent of revenue owed to the plaintiffs from the Champions 2022 skin bundle.

The XSET lawsuit was first reported by Dot Esports. The separate cases were filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court of California by Zachary “zekken” Patrone, Matthew “Cryocells” Panganiba, Jordan “AYRIN” He, Rory “dephh” Jackson, and Don “SyykoNT” Muir. This all revolves around the Valorant Champions Tour 2022 in-gam skin bundle, which featured multiple cosmetics themed around the esports event. Proceeds from the bundle were meant to be paid to participating teams, but former XSET players claim they never saw their share of the profit.

According to the players and former coach, they reached out to XSET about the absent funds “in good faith” back in April of this year, but their letter was ignored. The original agreement between XSET and its players stated that “XSET will share in-game skin [microtransaction] revenue with the team in a 50/50 rev share. Each Player/Coach will receive 8.33% of all skin revenue sales.” The plaintiffs are seeking a ruling that would force XSET to arbitrate the disputes.

Riot Games previously confirmed that the Champions 2022 skin bundle generated $16 million USD. In-game bundles that can be bought with microtransactions, with proceeds going to professional players are a somewhat common occurrence in the esports space. Dota 2 does something similar with its annual championship. As we await the outcome of the XSET lawsuit, we’ll continue to follow the biggest stories in esports.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_