We always knew that GENESIS would be a little unfair, due to various levels of access given to various people, and were transparent about this. We did not, however, know about the creator’s early access and therefore did not know quite the extent to which different players would have a different amount of time to prepare. We found out this information at the same time as every other major creator invited to participate early.
This is not the fault of Microsoft, World’s Edge or anyone else. As tournament organizers, our number one priority is this game being fantastic and successful, and we support decisions that make this more likely.
That all said, we remain extremely excited about GENESIS and intend on proceeding with the event with the full prize pool, previously announced, for a number of reasons:
The first reason is that the impact of creator access on the audience and its enjoyment will be zero. The overwhelming community sentiment is clearly in wanting to watch and enjoy this event. While the creator’s access has caused an imbalance in preparation time, I don’t believe it’s diminished intrigue or excitement for the event, nor rendered the game play worse.
The second reason is that by the time we knew about this, many players and casters had committed to the event, and we felt a late cancellation would display a significant lack of integrity towards our partners and the community.
The third reason is that cancelling the tournament would serve no-one’s interest. We did not have a realistic opportunity to reschedule this event during 2021, and so not proceeding would simply have meant everyone loses out. We have already committed tens of thousands to other show matches and events in December and 2022, and GENESIS doesn’t affect this.
Perhaps most importantly, I truly do not believe that this unfair advantage has rendered the opportunity of others hopeless. The meta as it is understood today, is likely to dramatically shift between now and the event. I would recommend simply embracing the narrative and seeing if any of the non-invitees can overturn their disadvantage.
Finally I want to announce that for a number of reasons (not primarily related to the above), Microsoft will no longer be sponsoring this event. The decision was extremely amicable and mutual and their statement on the reasons can be found at this link: https://eliteforums.com/index.php?threads/statement-from-microsoft-on-genesis.13/
Please note that everyone from the dev side has been only helpful and accommodating and we are nothing but grateful for all of their assistance. The event and prize pool will be unaffected by this change.
