Charity events involving battle royales are not a new occurrence, but there seems to be a dispute involving an upcoming tournament and Call of Duty: Warzone. Activision reportedly will not allow esports team 100 Thieves to use Warzone in its upcoming charity event.
This dispute has many wondering why the negotiations fell apart, and the blame looks to be on 100 Thieves. Although the charity event is not canceled, the organization will have to find an alternative event to host its tournament series.
Esports team 100 Thieves announced its 'Gamers for Equality' event which planned to host a 4-week long Warzone tournament. This event was planned to start on June 18 and run for several weeks to support a good cause. On Twitter, 100 Thieves has postponed its event claiming that "Activision has denied" the use of Warzone for the tournament. The tweet makes it seem like Activision did not want to support the charity, but this is far from the truth.
Slasher revealed that Activision was going to allow 100 Thieves to run the tournament, but it would have to run it without a sponsor. The event was planned to be sponsored by CashApp, an organization involved with the esports team. When 100 Thieves refused to remove the sponsor, Activision in response prohibited it from using Warzone. This was where the negotiation ended as Activision does not want Warzone to be in a tournament sponsored by CashApp.
It was later revealed that 100 Thieves organized the tournament and announced it without ever consulting Activision. Slasher claims that 100 Thieves may be using its platform to try and push the community to help change Activision's mind about what sponsors can be allowed at events. Tons of different companies want to be sponsors for Call of Duty events, especially after the launch of Warzone's Season 4. The report continues to state that Activision has been unclear on the rules for using sponsors when in relation to Warzone tournaments. It is obvious that major brands can be involved, as there is currently a BudLight event in circulation, but smaller brands are less represented.
Activision is open to allowing the Warzone tournament and has promoted some popular weekly events to help 100 Thieves schedule in Warzone if its terms are met. It is unclear if Activision will change its mind on the sponsor issue, but 100 Thieves seem to be planning for an alternative game for the event. Activision seems to be remaining firm on this point and will most likely continue to deny access to its game.
Call of Duty: Warzone is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
