The two years after Thunder Gaming entered the esports scene have resulted in a litany of PR blunders, social media mistakes, and sloppily produced tournaments. As internal skepticism of the company grew, a series of damning videos by the YouTuber Technicals curated all the organization’s mistakes into one viral PR disaster. On top of all that, Thunder Gaming wasn’t paying contracted workers and said employees were losing hope of ever being compensated.
A lawsuit filed by Justin “Paperfairy” Duncan-Mills said that he was owed $1,990 by Thunder Studios Inc., and, only just recently, he was awarded compensation from the court. On his Twitter, Duncan-Mills posted ghosted emails and ignored messages to the company, which were finally taken seriously once he threatened legal action.
Thunder Studios claimed that Justin had no proof he had worked the unpaid days he claimed, but ultimately the court thought otherwise.
It took patience and perseverance for Justin to prevail and the esports community is right to celebrate. It is an empowering precedent to set, especially for independent esports tournament organizers and workers that make their living primarily working with 3rd party organizations.
(All information was provided by Inven Global)