FaZe Clan officially leaves WESA

— -- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team FaZe Clan has officially left WESA (World Esports Association), the team said Wednesday.

"After the WESA press conference, we raised the same concerns again and it was the first time we saw the external messaging and communication from WESA -- and it concerned us," FaZe said in a news release. "It doesn't lack big metaphors of what it could be, but it lacks transparency on how to get there and that is the main reason for why we are leaving WESA."

FaZe mentions that the basis of WESA is something it could get behind. It believes that having a governing body similar to WESA would help the esports scene, but not in its current form, with a larger scope needing to be adopted.

FaZe also clarifies that there was a sign-on fee, reported by community leader Scott "SirScoots" Smith to be $150,000, to join WESA, but that the team never collected it. However, it denies the rumor that there was a penalty to leave the association, which was reported to be $200,000.

The main reason the team originally joined WESA was that it felt obligated to be included in the European Counter-Strike scene. The organization, which is North American based, currently holds a team that is a mixture of European players, which it acquired from Spanish organization G2 Esports in January.

"We joined the CS:GO scene a few months ago. We've had a blast so far and becoming a part of this scene has led us to a lot of new friendships. It's also been stressful and at times very frustrating," the news release continues. "CS:GO is also growing so fast, and along with that comes a lot of forces and opportunities. One of these opportunities was WESA."

ESL provided a statement regarding FaZe's departure, saying, "Creating an association such as WESA from the ground up is an immense undertaking for all involved parties and something that requires enormous commitment of time and effort. While we regret the fact that FaZe has decided to take this step and are disappointed to see them go, we understand and accept their decision to put their current focus elsewhere.

WESA's next important steps surround players and overall more tangible rules and structure. This includes an election of the Players Council, the appointment of players in the Executive Board, the formalization of the Arbitration Court to prevent future wrongdoings between teams and/or towards players, and expanding the number of members of the association. You will be the first to know about any of these updates as soon as they occur."

Whether more teams will take a similar stance or not is uncertain, but for now, WESA will now hold seven teams: Fnatic, Natus Vincere (Na`Vi), Virtus.Pro, mousesports, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Team EnVyUs and G2 Esports.