On September 7th, after the previous week’s rebrandings, fans of the SPL (Smite Pro League) found that the Dignitas/Paradigm game had been postponed. This was after nearly a week of rumors in the community involving the players of Paradigm and the organization of Paradigm, having a disagreement about pay. This led to conjecture that the players had gone on strike, but this rumor was debunked not much later on Twitter by the players on Paradigm.

What the players also brought to light on September 9th was that there had been some controversial conduct in respect to Paradigm’s contracts with their players. The organization was trying to get their players to sign contracts that the Smite community seemed to unanimously agree were unfair (though some sources still  maintain that the terms were more than fair). These contracts required the players to give Paradigm a portion of their winnings in the SPL. The reason the players were dissatisfied with the contract was that it offered no pay, and Paradigm failed to provide them with a sponsor as promised.

AHS student and SPL fan Devin post described the situation as “[B]asically just company trying to flex its muscles over its talent.”

Paradigm, however, maintains that they were the ones who were wronged, releasing  an official statement on September 8th that said that the players’ refusal to offer a portion of their winnings was fair for “helping Paradigm pay business expenses.” They also claimed the players were openly hostile towards management and deliberately lying about how things happened. (They also included in this statement that they would withdraw from the SPL “[n]o matter what the outcome.”)

Hi-Rez Studios learned of a potential dispute August 28th, but they decided to give the players and the organization time to negotiate and resolve the issue on their own.

But later, on September 2nd, they found that negotiations seemed to be failing. They began meeting with both parties to try to find a compromise, but on September 5th they received information regarding the players’ contracts. Moreover they found that Paradigm was threatening to forfeit all matches should the players not sign the contracts. This was when Hi-Rez decided to put Paradigm’s games on freeze (rescheduling them for a later date) in order to investigate the situation themselves.

Then on September 7th, Paradigm claimed “contractual tort” in regards to the freeze in an email to Hi-Rez. Next on September 8th Paradigm, in their public statement, said that they would withdraw from the SPL “[n]o matter what the outcome.” Hi-Rez completed their investigation later that day.

On September 9th, Hi-Rez released the following ruling on their website: “Paradigm hereby forfeits its position in the SPL to Lawbster, who is the elected Team Captain (as that term is defined in the Rules) among the Players. This ruling shall be effective immediately, and is final and binding on all parties. In addition, we are amending the Rules to add procedures for future disputes between players and teams, including a mandatory seven day mediation before we will issue a final ruling, and during which time the relevant parties may settle their dispute without interference by us, unless exceptional circumstances dictate otherwise.”

“We also kindly request that Paradigm abstain from involvement in any future eSports events or competitions hosted by or related to us, including those for SMITE and Paladins.”

So after their investigation Hi-Rez Studios took the side of the players and promptly cut ties with Paradigm. After receiving the team slot in the SPL (due to the ruling) the team renamed themselves “Bipolar Method” and maintain their spot at first place in Europe in the Season 3 Fall Split.

Funballer (ADC) advances on the enemy base with the fire giant buff.