Chinese esports team Newbee accused of stealing $100,000 from Fortnite pros

XXM and xMende were supposed to receive $50,000 each after the 2019 Fortnite World Cup

A Fortnite character aims down the sights of a sniper rifle

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.

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.