Halo Infinite pro player Tyler “Spartan” Ganza turned heads late last night, releasing a statement claiming the HCS eUnited roster he is a part of “imploded” and that he would be benching himself for the foreseeable future. The player detailed trust issues that stretched back to before HCS Anaheim, when there was a secretive attempted roster change. He further stated that eUnited was making it impossible for him to explore transfers to other teams following his desire to part with the organization.
Related: HCS pro Spartan benches himself following fallout with RyaNoob and eUnited management
eUnited released a statement today in response to Spartan’s claims, citing disapointment with his choice to bench himself and his decision to present a narrative on social media that the org believes “is not accurate nor indicative of the entire situation.”
“Over the past few days, Tyler has expressed his feelings to us about making a change at which time he threatened to bench himself if we were unwilling to meet his demands,” eUnited claimed. “We have always strived to listen to our players’ feedback, wants and needs but trying to coerce a change while under contract is in our opinion unwarranted and inappropriate.” The post didn’t cover or rebuke any details around the original reasons for Spartan’s disillusionment with the team, and instead focused on clarifying eUnited’s position when it comes to Spartan’s contract and its responses to offers from other teams for him.
“eUnited has recently received some interest in Tyler but has yet to obtain a formal buyout offer in any form or substance from another organization,” the statement read, implying that the team Spartan suggested would be willing to buy him out had not communicated such an offer to eUnited. “In an effort to accomodate Tyler’s wishes we did reach out directly to another organization to explore potential trade options. eUnited is yet to receive a formal response from that organization. We want to see Tyler succeed but ultimately we must make a decision that best serves the organization and all the players on the team.”
They also attempted to debunk Spartan’s previous claim that eUnited was holding him until the end of his contract, regardless of his desire to play with the starting roster. “Tyler is choosing to hastily bench himself prematurely before any final decisions have been made,” the organization explained. “We have no intention of holding Tyler on the bench, this decision is of his own accord, but we need to find a solution that is beneficial to all parties. While we navigate this situation, the door will always be open for Tyler to return to the starting roster.”
Spartan himself did not appear to take eUnited’s response well, calling the statement “laughable.”
“Hard for other orgs to make an offer when you tell their managers, ‘Our player is not for sale, untradable, and will not be playing under anyone other than eU this year,'” Spartan said in a follow-up tweet. He refuted eUnited’s claims that they have been working to find a good offer for him, instead suggesting that the statement’s intent is to put unjustified blame on him with false information. “My ‘demands’ were that I wasn’t teaming with Ryan,” he explained, referencing the fallout with teammate RyaNoob that began the entire debacle. “Either we get someone to replace him or I would like to leave. We couldn’t get anybody I wanted because no orgs would let their players come. But yes, let’s flip the script on me.”
It’s ultimately complicated to get to the truth of the matter, with both sides providing conflicting claims as to how willing eUnited is to let Spartan explore other teaming options. “Believe what you want and who you want,” Spartan tweeted before opting to take a social media break. “Choice is up to you.”
