JOHN NATHAN "johnxfire" Fernandez made a significant breakthrough when he became the first Filipino talent to be involved in the English broadcast of Dota 2's The International. He even carried Filipino pride by wearing a Barong Tagalog in one of his broadcasts.
And while he has achieved many highs as an international Dota 2 shoutcaster, there were also some notable problems and issues he has faced centered on delayed talent fee payments.
Recently he published a post, spreading the news surrounding Epulze Gaming, an esports production company based in Europe, now filing for bankruptcy according to the Swedish Companies Registration Office's website.
"With the news of Epulze Gaming, registered as eSports Pulse AB in Sweden, filing for bankruptcy in Sweden, many talent, teams, and staff involved in the last DPC cycle of 2023 are now left unpaid with little to no recourse," started johnxfire.
SEA region also affected?
There were many events under Epulze, where John has yet to receive payment. He listed all of them down, alongside the total amount due, worth Php1.6 million.
"I am personally owed for work from the the Lima Major, SEA DPC Tour 2, ESL DreamLeague 19 which was outsourced to Epulze, SEA DPC Tour 3, and the Bali Major, amounting to US$28,200 for work completed in 2023."
As he went on, he likewise disclosed that talents weren't the only ones affected as even professional teams have also suffered a lot as well.
"I know many teams have been unpaid from the DPC Tours, and last I checked the Majors were also unpaid for many of the teams."
He even went as far saying: "This has contributed to the tumultuous situation for players especially in Southeast Asia, and may also have contributed to the shrinkage in the region"
At the end of his post, he wasn't optimistic about his chances saying: "That said, with all of that work done in 2023, and with us wrapping up 2024 and into 2025, I suppose all that can be done is to accept that it is all gone, and just to move on. It has been a tough year, and 2025 looks to be no different, but such is life."
He even hoped that a resolution will happen to other affected talents, such as his co-caster Mike "MLPDotA" Le Phoenix, Filipina host Sophia "sophy" Mapua, former Dota 2 players Chan "WinteR" Litt Binn and Adam "343" Erwann Shah, and notable Dota 2 shoutcasters Neal "tsunami" Khandheria and Austin "Capitalist" Walsh.
Epulze's negative reputation
Historically, Epulze has had a negative reputation in the scene. Reports from Esports.net highlighted major allegations in which the organizer paid a huge sum of money to 'bigger' talents in advance, preventing them from speaking about issues on non-payment.
They even published a lengthly timeline on events which started back in 2023.
Epulze's CEO Markus Lövgren spoke to Esports.net saying: “Even though some circumstances have been out of our ability to influence, we take responsibility over the situation and our ambition is to make good towards everyone. During the past year we have slowly but steadily made progress in covering parts of the outstanding payments. We are in constant communication with relevant parties and will continue to cover payments as we move forward.”
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