'League of Legends' World Champion Zeus Left T1 Over a Contract Dispute

The worlds of gaming and e-sports were rocked following the news that Choi "Zeus" Woo-je, best known online as just Zeus, had decided to leave the South Korean e-sports company T1. His decision sent shockwaves through the ecosystem, as Zeus is a two-time world champion in League of Legends and is just 20 years old.

Following his departure, many wanted to learn more about exactly what drove Zeus away from T1, and whether he's said anything about the decision in public. Here's what we know.

Zeus appears to have left T1 over disputes about how much he should be paid and what the duration of his contract should be. According to a report from Naver News (zia Dexerto), the contract disputes took shape almost immediately in the off-season, and they simply weren't able to come to terms. The reports differ slightly between Zeus's agent and the representative from T1, but here's what each of them said.

Faker was the only player on T1's roster under contract through 2025. Keria extended first, followed by Oner and Gumayusi, which left Zeus as the roster's final holdout. Zeus's decision not to return to the roster was apparently last minute, and the dispute was over both how much Zeus was being offered and how long his contract was. Zeus was being offered a 3 + 1 contract, which would have locked him in for three years with options for one more.

The other players had signed two-year deals, and Zeus did not like being signed on a longer timetable. That was just T1's initial negotiating position, though, and the team apparently made several other offers at higher pay rates and for shorter durations, but Zeus was apparently dissatisfied with every proposal he received.

During the final negotiations, the ball was apparently in Zeus's court, and he gave T1 a hard deadline to accept his terms for both pay and contract duration or he would walk.

“Even though we were unilaterally informed of the 3 p.m. deadline, we rushed to Incheon to continue negotiations and requested further negotiations by phone, but we received a rejection from the agent,” the representative for T1 said.

Zeus's agent offered a similar account, but a slightly different perspective.

“We told T1 that the deadline for accepting the offer was 3 p.m. and eventually waited for T1’s opinion until 3:40 p.m. The amount was somewhat similar, but there was a serious difference in opinion regarding the contract period.”

It seems, then, that Zeus's decision to leave was mostly about how long he wanted to lock himself into T1.

While there's been some speculation about where Zeus will end up now that he's left T1, most suspect that he will sign with Hanwha Life Esports for the upcoming season. His decision to leave T1 will be a major storyline headed into the rest of the year, but the decision seems to have boiled down almost entirely to questions around money and contracts.