100 thieves will not participate in the Call of Duty World League, and here's why

One of the largest and most important e-sports organizations – 100 Thieves – will not have a team in the Call of Duty World League, which should begin in 2020.

In a video statement, Matthew "Nadeshot" Haag, founder of 100 Thieves, said the decision was essentially based on money. Activision billed $ 25 million per team, which was simply too high for 100 Thieves, which still operates as a start-up business with only about thirty people (in addition to its paid competitors).

"Activision has decided to franchise, and obviously, this entails many costs," said Nadeshot. "The CDL is incredibly expensive, it's so expensive."

There are initial costs associated with joining the league, as well as operational costs that 100 thieves would have to endure for "years," Nadeshot said.

"We are simply not equipped and are not ready to make that leap and make the decision to be all-in-one," he said.

Joining the Call of Duty League and investing money and resources is "a risk we can not take at the moment," Nadeshot said.

"We are a start-up and we are still a new company," he said. "Make a financial commitment as important as it is not possible for us at the moment."

Not only that, but because the World League Call of Duty is based in a city – like the Overwatch League – 100 thieves would need to plant in a particular place, and they are not ready to do it. According to Nadeshot, 100 Thieves is a global brand that does not want to be tied to a particular place.

Nadeshot and the other 100 Thieves leaders debated this decision for "so long", he said, but they finally decided to move on.

"It's just a difficult situation, man, there is no other way to say it," he said.

100 thieves who do not participate in the Call of Duty World League are a big loss for the competitive Call of Duty scene. The 100 thief team won the competitive Call of Duty circuit twice in 2019 and finished second at the Call of Duty World Championship in August.

As ESPN reminds us, eight of the nine current members of the Call of Duty World League are financially supported by the same extremely rich groups that have Overwatch League teams.

"For these buyers, the $ 25 million spent is a way to double Activision Blizzard and trust the president of this company, Bobby Kotick," said ESPN. "If you are the owner of the Los Angeles Rams, Stan Kroenke, the president of Minnesota Vikings, Zygi Wilf or the Wilpon family of New York, $ 25 million is a drop of water." But if you're 100 Thieves "It's a huge investment – one that could make or break your startup in the future – and it's questionable whether the reward outweighs the risk."

The next game Call of Duty is the restart of Modern Warfare, launched in October on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.