Some of the world’s best Smash Bros. players say they are owed thousands of dollars for their performances in a tournament called BEAST 7 held in Sweden last February.
Adam “Armada” Lindgren, the first place winner in the event’s Super Smash Bros. Melee bracket, tweeted yesterday that BEAST 7 had yet to provide “an explanation of exactly where all the money went,” and that the situation had been “handled in a really unprofessional way. Guess I have to talk to the other winners and see what we will do.”
Ramin “Mr. R” Delshad, who placed first in Smash 4 at BEAST 7, also posted yesterday about his missing winnings. He noted that head tournament organizer Alexander “Lolex” Gabrielsson had not responded to his emails since April, and that the rest of the BEAST tournament organizers had told him “not post anything about Lolex until their official statement.”
Compete reached out to Delshad, Lindgren and Lolex for further details yesterday and today, but did not hear back before press time. But it appears very unlikely that the players will be paid, based on comments other tournament officials have made publicly and to Compete.
Yesterday, BEAST staffer Viktor Johansson acknowledged on Reddit that there was a delay on delivering the prize pool, which totaled €12,720 (or $15,109.13) across six different game tournaments. In the statement, Johansson said he had concerns about Lolex’s financial strategy, even ahead of BEAST 7: “I did not want the money to be handled by Lolex only again, because the feeling that he isn’t the best with numbers was already present.” He added: “The way Lolex handled tournaments is pretty much why we’re in our current situation. ‘Going in blind’ is how I would describe it. He does not want to work with a budget.”
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