Cloud9 has been forced to cancel a contract with 13-year-old League of Legends streamer Rayan ‘General Sniper’ Shoura mere hours after announcing the signing. Unbeknownst to Cloud9 at the time of signing, the League of Legends Championship Series, in which Cloud9 competes doesn’t allow teams to sign players under the age of 15.
The mix-up seems to have come from Cloud9’s intention to hire General Sniper as a streamer, not a pro player. “This is an unfortunate situation, where a new amateur league is forming without full clarity on how the rules are set up,” Cloud9 CEO and founder, Jack Etienne, stated on Twitter. “We hired sniper as a streamer and not as a pro player. These categories, Pro Player vs Streamer, are very different contracts with different obligations.”
Though the situation is unfortunate for both parties involved, Etienne made sure to let Twitter know that Cloud9 will revisit the signing when General Sniper is of age next year.
The reason for the signing is easy to see. The youngster has managed to reach Challenger in ranked League of Legends on three different accounts this season and won the Twitch Rivals showdown as part of Tyler ‘Tyler1’ Steinkamp’s team.
Turns out the minimum age to join any team is 15 (even as a streamer) so my contract was terminated, very sad news☹️ I'll be back stronger than ever next year 🙂
— General Sniper (@GeneralSniperr) November 3, 2020
Despite the crushing disappointment, General Sniper appears to have handled the situation very maturely. It will be interesting to see whether Cloud9 will face any competition to sign him again once when he turns 15 as he continues to be one of NA’s most exciting young talents.
