Banner image: Ubisoft Brazil
Update (31 Oct 2020):
Following his departure from Nora-Rengo almost two weeks ago and his Twitlonger alleging unpaid salaries by kizoku, Ar7hur has released an update today stating that the matter is now being resolved.
Original:
After a disappointing 2020 season in the APAC North Division, Nora-Rengo's Brazilian coach of Arthur "Ar7hur" Schubert has announced that the 22nd of October will be his last day with the team.
Unpaid Wage Allegations
Over the course of 2020, Nora-Rengo (NR) not only has had a torrid time in APAC North, where the team has only won five games and lost 14, but has also been mired in a financial scandal.
As a result, Ar7hur said that he had last received a salary in July and has received "no support" from the organisation, with kizoku proving to be "really hard" to contact after multiple direct-messages went unanswered. Despite assistance from the team manager, Ar7hur has only received "excuses" as replies.
On the 30th of August, Nora-Rengo's owner, manager, and former coach Yasuhiro "kizoku" Nishi had stepped down from the team following allegations of unpaid wages from staff and players involved in Rainbow Six and other games.
An ex-Rainbow Six analyst for the team, Ryo "Forte" Katayama, had initially claimed he wasn't paid anything by the organisation, with another analyst claiming that he had been promised but then barred from joining the team at their team house.
SiegeGG was also informed by a senior ex-player who wishes to stay anonymous that their salary was not paid during their time on the team -- this despite the player having represented them even at international events.
Kizoku at the Six Invitational 2019.
Furthermore, according to a voice log shared by @takigare3, an alleged ex-Rainbow Six pro wished to leave the team due to unpaid wages, but kizoku had not let him while reportedly saying, "there's no point making a contract if a player can leave so easily".
Furthermore, there had also been claims that the current players and staff on Nora-Rengo were told to publicly state that they had been paid, with other claims that kizoku had pocketed most of the Pilot Program money and that the players had apparently only received "Pilot Program salaries" from Ubisoft. "Tens of thousands of dollars per month" worth of salaries, claimed the message, have not been paid to the players.
In response, all of Nora-Rengo's sponsors had dropped the team, though kizoku had maintained his innocence.
Ar7hur's Nora-Rengo Tenure
Formerly of Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP), Ar7hur had joined Nora-Rengo halfway through Season 11 of the Pro League. Then, Nora-Rengo had managed to climb from fourth place to finish third, but had missed out on the (later canceled) APAC Finals.
The move had come as a bit of a surprise, as neither had the players been able to speak Portuguese, nor had Ar7hur been able to speak Japanese. However, concerns had been allayed with reassurances that an interpreter would be able to bridge the gap successfully.
Even with NiP, Ar7hur had taken a while to mould the team into the powerhouse it had been during Season 11, and so had been given all the resources to try and work the same magic with Nora-Rengo. However, his first tournament with the team -- the Japanese Nationals 2020 Season 1 -- saw the team lose to GUTS Gaming in the first qualifier and then to complete amateurs YOBAs in the Round-of-32 of the main event.
The Stage 1 statistics for Nora-Rengo in the 2020 APAC North season.
Hoping for a fresh start in the APAC North Division amidst a fair few roster changes, NR continued to disappoint. A mere two wins and eight losses in Stage 1 saw the team finish second-to-last, while Stage 2 was little better as the team has only secured three wins and six losses so far.
The team was also the only Japanese APAC North team uninvited from the Japanese Championship 2020, presumably due to the kizoku scandal, and had to rejoin the tournament through open qualifiers. While able to proceed through Phase 1, facing only amateur teams, the team came up against FAV Gaming in Phase 2 and was knocked out before reaching the offline Finals -- the first major LAN event in Rainbow Six since the Six Invitational 2020.
Now, with Nora-Rengo certain to be in the APAC North Relegations and almost sure to play its former, allegedly unpaid player Riku "Maavi" Kaizo and his current team of eva:e, the former Japanese champions will be without a coach.
Ar7hur, for his part, will be looking for a new team to coach in any region. Offering up his abilities as a head coach, secondary coach, and/or analyst, it is unclear where his future currently lies.