One of the biggest and most venerable esports organisations has been accused of repeated lack of care for one of its most promising players. Evil Geniuses runs players in professional gaming competitions for CS:GO, Call of Duty, Fortnite, Dota 2, and various fighting games, among many others, but it is in League of Legends where sources have said one of it's brightest stars suffered a lack of support.
The report comes from Dexerto, which heard from "several sources" from within Evil Geniuses who went unnamed for fear of retaliation by the organisation. They claim that League of Legends prodigy Kyle 'Danny' Sakamaki suffered repeated lack of care that contributed to the player's struggles with mental health and physical wellbeing.
18-year-old Kyle 'Danny' Sakamaki regularly wowed audiences and fellow competitors with his stunning plays and was particularly notable for his performance in the LSC Spring Playoffs last April, where the ADC player picked up three MVP awards. However, just a few months later, during the 2022 Summer tournament, the Evil Geniuses team performed badly, losing most of their matches and suffering poor results against the likes of TSM and Cloud 9, while many were left puzzled by Danny's underperformance and unusually bad plays.
In September Evil Geniuses announced that Danny would be taking time off for mental health problems. But it's been claimed that Danny's problems had been ongoing and that management had been neglecting to provide care so that the player's mental and physical wellbeing deteriorated. This went to the extent that when Danny returned to his family home he was sent to see a doctor for malnutrition. Sources speaking to Dexerto claim that various Evil Geniuses staff and players had raised concerns about Danny's health and that it was serious enough that the LCS Players Association was contacted over the issue.
In retrospect, there were public signs that Danny might've been suffering from stress and burnout. Following the completion of 2022's Mid-Season Invitational, which is held in May, Danny tweeted: "cause playing 5 straight months of competitive league of legends with scrims, riot features, official matches, lock in, regular LSC season, playoffs, houston finals, MSI, group stage, rumble stage, semis, and erryone [sic] hates u.. mean i would really like to take a small break".
According to the sources, Evil Geniuses had initially provided support and care for an existing condition that means Danny is more susceptible to stress, which the esports organisation were aware of when it signed him. "Initially, the organisation was aware of his condition and did what they could to support it," a source told Dexerto. "A lot of his problems got worse with stress so, for example, they even hired a coach specifically to work with him".
However, the source claimed that as time went on the management "seemed less and less interested in helping him cope with the pressure" and that Evil Geniuses simply hoped the problem would go away despite players and coaches' warnings. Danny's health continued to worsen. The League player would ultimately decide to take time off, but issues were only resolved after Evil Geniuses CEO Nicole LaPointe Jameson spoke with Danny directly, it's reported.
A couple months ago, Jameson indirectly addressed allegations over Danny with a video statement shared on Twitter. In it, the CEO claimed that Evil Geniuses takes a lot of care around its athletes and that she was unable to say much owing to "legal employment constraints". Meanwhile, earlier this week esports journalist Thorin published a YouTube video making similar allegations against Evil Geniuses.
However, Danny would make a statement regarding the reports and said on Tuesday that "the accusations towards EG aren't true". He continued: "The truth is that the pressure of being an esports pro has overwhelmed me to my breaking point, and EG supported me all the way". Danny also announced that he is now an official member of EG's Creator Collective and will be creating content fulltime on Twitch.
While it is good that Danny got a much-needed break and has found a neat transition, the allegations will raise concerns around the stress and workloads of esports competitors and whether they receive enough support and care from their management. Evil Geniuses have yet to respond to the new allegations made by Dexerto's sources.