Esports organization Method lost a few of its affiliated streamers today and could be without its Path of Exile team following a slew sexual harassment allegations involving one of its now-former WoW raiders as well as its co-CEO.
Earlier this week, the team released MethodJosh after multiple women on Twitter spoke up reporting instances of alleged sexual harassment directed toward minors. Josh was permanently banned from Twitch last year and a Kotaku report from 2019 detailed numerous instances of sexual misconduct by the streamer.
In addition to Josh’s dismissal, Method placed its co-CEO, Sascha Steffens, on unpaid leave for unrelated sexual misconduct allegations from two women that date back to 2015. The organization is conducting a third-party investigation to determine Steffens’ future.
Following these developments, multiple people affiliated with Method, including broadcast personality Preach and WoW Classic players Esfand, Payo, and TipsOut, have ended their relationships with the organization.
Most of the conversations regarding this situation are focused primarily on the actions of Josh. Because of Josh’s public history involving alleged sexual harassment, the recent claims that have come out against him, including multiple from underage women, have made people question why the organization kept him around for so long.
“I asked about Method Josh repeatedly and directly,” Preach said. “I was told it was not a big deal, it had been dealt with, and it was not an issue.”
While Preach personally was never an official member of Method, he’s worked with the organization during its numerous Race To World First raiding events as a broadcaster.
In a video on his Twitch page, Preach explained exactly why the situation with Josh has led to his decision to no longer work with Method moving forward. As a father of two children, Preach said he feels “horrible” and appeared visibly distraught while expressing his emotions surrounding the circumstances.
“I have to believe that somebody in that team did know something… and decided to put me and the other casters in a position where talking about him,” he said. “I don’t know who knew what, and that’s the problem. That uncertainty that we’re not being looked after and other people aren’t being looked after, we can’t work with that.”
In addition to Preach’s announcement, numerous Twitch personalities who work under the Method banner have said they’ll no longer represent the brand.
WoW Classic players TipsOut, Esfand, and Payo have all individually tweeted out that they’re ending their relationships with the organization. Esfand and Payo are two of the more popular Classic streamers on Twitch and TipsOut has gained fame in the community for his hand in organizing a PvP tournament body called the Classic Duelers’ League.
Along with the organization’s Classic streaming personalities expressing concern with the organization, its Path of Exile players have decided that they’ll remove all Method branding from their respective Twitch and Twitter accounts while they collectively deliberate on what the future of the team will involve.
Team member Zizaran, who’s also a part of the Twitch Safety Council, posted the news on Twitter earlier today. Method’s POE team consists of five players and Viyro, who serves as the team manager.
