Windigo receives WESG 2018 prize money after a year of waiting

After enduring twelve months of persistent negotiation and administrative hurdles, the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squad Windigo has at last obtained their hard-earned winnings from the WESG 2018 championship event.

Artur Yermolayev, the organization’s principal founder and chief executive, communicated to HLTV that the competitive team’s portion of the $500,000 total prize fund had been successfully transferred to competitor accounts. He additionally informed the premier CSGO news platform about his relief that this protracted financial matter reached ultimate closure.

This resolution represents a profoundly delayed outcome for Windigo, an organization that was compelled into complete operational termination because of severe liquidity shortages directly attributable to multiple tournament entities withholding promised compensation. The outstanding obligations extended well beyond their WESG $500,000 allocation to include $40,000 from MocheXL tournament organizers, combined with $6,000 each from both ESL Pro League Season 9 and the subsequent Season 10 competition.

According to detailed documentation shared through a Reddit publication by Windigo co-proprietor Maksym Bednarskyi, the competitive unit had anticipated receipt of WESG funds for 229 consecutive days before making the difficult determination to dissolve the business entity. The established deadline for WESG financial transfer was October 8, yet they received zero communication regarding payment status updates.

“Competitive organizations that participated in the WESG tournament circuit should collectively organize to address this systemic problem collaboratively, because professional gamers should never experience hardship due to such administrative failures,” Bednarskyi emphasized during his public statement.

The Chinese tournament administration team posted an explanatory response within the Reddit discussion thread, presenting their organizational perspective. Their internal payment processing division had reportedly been laboring “incessantly” to distribute championship prizes to all 166 qualifying winners from the Grand Final matches. They acknowledged the considerable difficulties in executing international monetary transfers because of rigorous regulatory requirements imposed by Chinese financial institutions. At that juncture, they maintained eight outstanding payments from the total 166 disbursements, which they asserted received “highest priority attention, to guarantee prize funds reach these deserving competitors.”

“Contrary to assertions made by Maksym, our organization maintained consistent electronic correspondence with Windigo representatives, with specific communications occurring during the most recent 30-day period on October 8, 16, 25, and 28. Screenshot documentation of email interactions remains available for verification upon Windigo’s formal request. We attempted multiple payment transmissions to Windigo but encountered repeated failures primarily because: Windigo’s banking documentation, taxation submission records, and corporate registration originated from three distinct national jurisdictions. When combined with our efforts to transfer the substantial sum exceeding half-million USD, these factors triggered compliance alerts at both banking and governmental oversight levels. We commit to exhaustive collaboration with Windigo to achieve resolution,” the official statement elaborated.

Bednarskyi formally demanded that tournament organizers establish and publish a definitive transfer timeline for public accountability.

“I was compelled to terminate all business functions before your organization initiated corrective measures. Good job,” he communicated directly to WESG administration.

The professional gamers who will ultimately obtain their allocated portions of the $500,000 prize pool have pursued diverse career pathways within the CSGO competitive landscape. Standout competitors Valentin “poizon” Vasilev and Georgi “SHiPZ” Grigorov transitioned to Complexity Gaming and CR4ZY respectively, with the latter squad subsequently transferred to c0ntact Gaming. Organization SMASH secured Kamen “bubble” Kostadinov while BLUEJAYS contracted Yanko “blocker” Panov. Viktor “v1c7oR” Dyankov currently operates as an unrestricted free agent, though he maintains active participation in online competitive circuits.

While the broader CSGO enthusiast community has demonstrated consistent empathy toward the professional players forced to endure extended payment delays, the narrative surrounding Windigo as an organizational entity has followed a distinctly different trajectory. Numerous CSGO supporters highlighted that the management group had previously attempted to market their complete competitive roster and coaching staff through Reddit platforms approximately one year earlier. The promotional publication was titled “Bulgarian Squad for Sale,” and solicited interested esports organizations to initiate contact if they were “considering acquisition of a competitive unit with qualification slots for WESG, ESL Pro League, and UML tournaments.

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