ESR - Fox, Tox, Stermy Contracts End With FPO

Fox, Tox, Stermy Contracts End With FPO (101 comments)

( Major News: FEAR Gaming PK Q3 Q4 UT3)

Posted by Slasher @ 06:39 CDT, 6 June 2008 - iMsg

Rod "Slasher" Breslau:

The contracts of

Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel's Free Players' (FPO),

Magnus "fox" Olsson,

Johan "toxjq" Quick and

Alessandro "stermy" Avallone, have ended. The organization has decided not to renew their contracts.

"The agreements for Johan, Magnus and Alessandro have expired and we now work with them on a case by case basis, allowing them the freedom to join other teams and organizations", says a representative of Auravision, the exclusive licensor of the Fatal1ty brand. "Our arrangement with them remains cordial, respectful and supportive."

As the World Series of Video Games abruptly shut down in late 2007, the deathmatch community was left at a standstill with very few events to participate in. Over the past ten months, there have only been a handful of high-level dueling tournaments, not including latest F.E.A.R CPL World Tour stops.

"Given the changing landscape in which present day competitions are held, it was decided to take another approach with regard to support of players under the FPO umbrella," Auravision explains. The decision not to renew the contracts also came before the recent announcement of the AGP Tour, slated to focus on 1v1 deathmatch competition.

For the past year and a half, Avallone has been playing FIFA as a member of the Championship Gaming Series' San Francisco OPTX squad. Quick has decided to take a break from gaming for the time being, as he is not too interested in competing in Quake 3 at the moment. Olsson on the other hand, one who's long favored Quake 3, is eager to get back to competing and is currently looking at his options.

"If it's beneficial, sure thing," he says regarding a new sponsor. "There are a whole bunch of events this summer that I would like to attend." Olsson is already confirmed to participate at the ESWC Masters event in early July and GameGune at the end of the month.

Although several Quake 3 tournaments have recently sprung up, the FPO is taking a broader look at the professional gaming landscape. With StarCraft, WarCraft 3, Counter-Strike, Halo 3 and World of WarCraft among other games filling the competitive niche, Wendel has a lot to work with.

"I want to sponsor more than just FPS gamers, I want to support every gamer in every aspect, no matter what the game is," says the 12-time World Champion. "Right now I'm working on building a new model of how to sponsor players through the Fatal1ty Brand and how to support them around the world."

Olsson, Quick and Avallone were each members of the FPO during the height of 1v1 deathmatch competitions from 2005 to 2007. Avallone was the first to join, signing on near the end of the Painkiller CPL World Tour. Olsson came aboard during the 2006 Quake 4 WSVG circuit, while Quick was added shortly before the 2007 WSVG circuit.

As Avallone, Quick and Olsson depart as teammates, they only have good things to say about the FPO and the way Wendel's organization treated them. "I thoroughly enjoyed my time in FPO," explains Quick. "We had great team spirit between the players and the managers, and the combination between business and pleasure was excellent." Avallone adds in, "probably the best organization out there. The communication was great, the support was excellent, and they never let us miss anything."

The decline of deathmatch competition brought this on to begin with. With some promising announcements coming lately, hopefully the FPO will be right back where it started.

Edited by Slasher at 04:34 CDT, 11 June 2008 - 28904 Hits