Famous in World of Warcraft guild Method appeared in the center of the scandal. One of the leading players, MethodJosh or JoshPriest, has long been accused of inappropriate sexual behavior. But only now the team announced a breakup with him.
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All of us at Method take the well-being of minors seriously, including their safety on the Internet. If you have evidence that someone inside Method or outside the organization is behaving inappropriately or violating the law, we strongly recommend that you report to the police and report it so that you can conduct a thorough and proper investigation.
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The organization said it immediately ceases all relations with MethodJosh. At the same time, the second CEO of Method, Sasha Steffens, went on unpaid administrative leave. His future fate will depend on the investigation conducted by a third party.
Following allegations of misconduct, Co-CEO Sascha Steffens has been placed on unpaid administrative leave pending the results of a third-party investigation.
— Method (@Method) June 25, 2020
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The fact that Josh behaves improperly with girls in chat rooms and makes obscene offers to minors is a resource Kotaku wrote at the beginning of 2019, and Twitch banned his channel. Then the guild replied in the same way: let them file an application with the police so that we can begin to act.-
This commitment to the law did not appeal to the active community. The termination of cooperation with the organization was announced by many streamers, as well as sponsors, including MSI and Corsair. Many professional players and entire teams left Method.-
Blizzard explained that the company did not have an official relationship with Method and it does not intend to continue cooperation. The largest information resources Fanbyte Mediaand Wowhead announced that they are stopping further partnership negotiations with the organization.
Brief statement regarding @FanbyteMedia and @Wowhead’s partnership with @Method. We’ve technically been out of contract with them for a while but have been negotiating a new deal until today and it’s very clear they’re not a partnership we need to renew.
— John Warren (@FloppyAdult) June 25, 2020
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For many years, Method was known as one of the most successful guilds of World of Warcraft, on its account – a lot of records and victories in raid races. Currently, it is a large e-sports organization, although attempts to prove themselves in other games have so far failed.-
It is difficult to say whether the active public will consider the measures adopted by Method sufficient. However, guilds will in any case find it difficult to recover from such a shock. Reputational losses are definitely irreparable, and they now mean more than any real achievements.