Two Chinese Fortnite players have allegedly had $100,000 in World Cup prize money “stolen” from them by esports organisation Newbee.
In a series of tweets first reported on by Dexerto, Fortnite coach ‘Rhidax’ calls out Newbee for taking the $100,000 prize meant for its Duos team of ‘XXM’ and ‘xMended,’ who finished in 49th place at the World Cup last July. It has been roughly a year since that event, and the two talented Chinese youngsters are allegedly yet to see that money and haven’t competed in Fortnite since the World Cup.
“Newbee trapped their players in contracts and stole all Fortnite prize money since WC, including 2 world cup qualifiers ($100,000+ stolen),” Rhidax says on Twitter. He also posts screenshots of a conversation with ‘WenQian,’ another Newbee player who claims to have had prize money taken from him, as well as a conversation with a source who claims the players will never see their money because “it’s all been swallowed by the organisation.”
Newbee is yet to address these claims and The Loadout has reached out to the organisation for a response.
Current @newbeecn Fortnite Situation:
The org has been accused of matchfixing in the CDA (DOTA 2), leading to their essential disbanding.
Newbee trapped their players in contracts and stole all Fortnite prize money since WC, including 2 world cup qualifiers. ($100,000+ stolen)
— Rhidax (@rhidax_) July 21, 2020
Photo 1 and 2 are screenshots with WenQian, who had over 10k stolen from him.
3 is from a trusted source close to the players, name has been blurred out. pic.twitter.com/jd63I8YKdn
— Rhidax (@rhidax_) July 21, 2020
This is not the first controversy to hit Newbee this year after its Dota 2 team were all given lifetime bans from competing in Chinese competitions after being found guilty of match fixing, a ruling that the organisation is appealing.
Newbee put itself on the esports map when its Dota team won The International 4 in 2014. It also finished runner up in 2017.
