The EVE Online PvP tournament, which took place in November and December 2012 and was won by Asine Hitama’s team, should have seen money awarded to both the winning team and the runners-up.
But the unfortunate collapse of Vienna-based video streaming provider and tournament sponsor, Own3D, saw their pledged prize fund vanish as they filed for bankruptcy in January 2013.
Honouring the Debt
Own3D had been struggling in the shadow of competitors Twitch TV and the breakdown of $5m buyout negotiations with Machinima was the final curtain. CCP Games was left to honour the prize money payout, which they offered to do:
However, the process of delivering payment has since taken several months to conduct, with some prizewinners allegedly still awaiting their money.
GameSkinny contacted CCP Games to find out what was going on.
Bureaucracy is Primary
Earlier today, CCP Manifest, Public Relations and Social Media Manager, offered GameSkinny this explanation:
So it would seem that a combination of poor communication, red tape and user error is to blame for much of the delay and that most of the prize money has now been awarded. But was this really an acceptable explanation for a delay of six months?
At time of publication, the aggrieved player has yet to furnish GameSkinny with any further details beyond their desire to “safe-guard the player’s interests”, but in an effort to examine what went wrong, I braved the EVE Online forums to get a better idea…
Next: Unpaid Tournament Prize Money Investigated
