Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
One of Florida’s largest fighting game tournaments, CEO 2024, took place over the weekend, bringing players from around the world together for another exciting showdown across a number of games. But the excitement may have gotten out of hand in at least one instance. Following a victory popoff (an often over-the-top celebration of a win at competitive events) that saw a chair thrown and a light fixture broken, CEO Gaming founder and CEO Alex Jebailey has promised that throwing things during a popoff will result in a ban from any future events he has a hand in.
The trouble occurred when during the Mortal Kombat 1 semifinals, REZ Esports player Dyloch Brooks achieved victory over active MK pro Curtis "Rewind" McCall. He, then, almost immediately chucked his chair over the ring ropes, reportedly damaging a light fixture in the venue. While Dyloch went on to say he would take responsibility for the light fixture, Jebailey went on to say he wouldn’t accept that kind of behavior in the future.
It’s a stark, but fair warning. Fighting game popoffs have become somewhat popular occurrences among certain parts of the community, arguably popularized by players like Smash pro player HungryBox. That said, Alex Jebailey also went on to share that the light fixture that was broken runs a cost of nearly $3,000 if it can’t be fixed and must be replaced entirely. That’s not even factoring in the risk of the chair hitting a person instead of CEO Gaming or venue property. Jebailey has considerable reach in his immediate space, so it’s not an idle threat, either. CEO Gaming runs the CEO and CEOtaku events, but Jebailey also plays a major role in organizing DreamHack events as well.
CEO 2024 was quite a fun affair with a ton of awesome showdowns, but popoffs are going to have to tone it down a bit after the events of the Mortal Kombat 1 semifinals, and appropriately so. Stay tuned for any further updates and more FGC coverage.