Players accused the CEO and founder of Bolt Esports, Jack “SGK” Banales, of breaching contracts and withholding pay. On July 2, 2019, all seven Fortnite players and the editor announced they are no longer with the organization. Two of the players, Benjamin “Impshoots” Gault and Matthew “Rocaine” Snyder, spoke about the situation on Twitter. The teammates claimed that SGK scammed them into joining Bolt Esports then proceeded to disappear after not paying the players. The players were promised salaries and endorsement deals. For the past month, players tried to contact the CEO but received no response. Now, Impshoots and Rocaine bring their accusations out into the public after they attempted to handle the issues privately.
The fall of Bolt Esports
Bolt Esports was an up-and-coming esports organization. The team began about a year ago in July of 2018. Since, Bolt has had two players qualify for the Fortnite World Cup Final and multiple top 100 placements. Howard “Tetchra” Lebright and Jared “Eclipsae” Elwood qualified in Week 8 after finishing in first place in the NA East region. This is when the organization began to crumble.
The two players that qualified, Tetchra and Eclipsae, left Bolt Esports to pursue larger organizations. Other team members were not alerted of their departure and found out through social media. From then on, SGK went silent. The CEO left with one message stating that Bolt Esports cannot pay the players. Additionally, Bolt allows the players to keep all of their World Cup earnings.
SGK and Bolt Esports have been silent on social media since June 4, 2019. SGK sent the above statement to players on July 2, 2019. No message has come from the organization since. Eventually, two players broke the silence. Rocaine released a TwitLonger explaining the story. Then Impshoots created a video describing how the organization fell apart.
Impshoots claims in the video that the players are owed around $10,000 between them. The money is the monthly salaries for June. Additionally, Impshoots claims that SGK held a 14-year-old to a contract without pay. After hearing from players, Bolt Esports was already likely to fail. These allegations will only expedite that process. All previous players are now free agents.
What is next for the former Bolt Esports players? Will SGK correct his wrongdoings? Let us know in the comments, and stay tuned to Daily Esports for all the latest competitive Fortnite news!
