Bleed Esports Counter-Strike 2 Players Revolt

Bleed Esports Counter-Strike 2 players claim company owes salaries and prize money

Bleed Esports was in the spotlight on Friday, as its Counter-Strike 2 coach made a very public statement claiming that the Singapore-based esports organization is significantly behind on paying its players salaries and prize money.

CS Coach Aleksandar “Kassad” Trifunovi posted a lengthy statement on Friday on social media claiming that Bleed has been behind on paying its Counter-Strike 2 players salaries and prize money, that the organization owes other organizations for player buyouts, and that complaints have been consistently ignored by upper management. Further, he notes (as others have noted) that Bleed CEO Mervyn Goh appears to be incommunicado, unreachable, and seemingly removed from public view. Trifunovi’s statement in full (which was signed by the entire roster):

Bleed subsequently responded on social media, claiming that players have been paid up until August, with September payments being process:

Trifunovi pushed back on this claim almost immediately, adding that Bleed owes CS2 players $332K USD collectively, which includes salaries and unpaid prize money:

Bleed has faced a number of challenges recently including being removed as a partnered team for the Valorant Champions Tour/VCT Pacific for failing to fulfill guidelines set forth under the team participation agreement. As a result, Riot ultimately replaced Bleed with Boom Esports.  At the time Riot described Bleed’s actions leading up to its decision as “persistent operational failures.”

Sources have told The Esports Advocate over the last several months that the company has been behind in paying many of its players including its Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2 rosters.

Further, Bleed CEO Mervyn Goh has been tied to EFLARE, a tournament organizer brand that put on an SEA-focused, online Counter-Strike 2 tournament that concluded in November of 2023 and ultimately failed to pay $100K winners prize money. Goh was the main point of contact for hiring staff and talent for that tournament, according to our sources.

While a majority of staff that facilitated the EFLARE tournament and talent that participated were paid following our reporting, winners of the tournament are still owed prize money and one caster—Mamoon “TeaTime” Sabr—remains unpaid as of this writing.

Bleed is a privately owned company.  The company announced a major investment of $50.8M USD from Asia Venture Capital in December 2021 and in January 2024 it announced a partnership with North American esports organization Disguised—the professional esports initiative of Canadian streamer Jeremy “Disguised Toast” Wang—to support a professional Valorant roster in the Malaysia/Singapore region (SEA). It has also secured a number of partnerships over the years, though one of the most notable was with water purification company Hydroflux, which Bleed claimed generated 1.5M SGD (roughly $1.1M USD, based on the October 2021 exchange rate of 1 SGD = $0.7442 USD).