Clovarity drops Rocket League roster, digs out players, CEO defends 24k loss
Who doesn't love a bit of Rocket League rostermania?
From double-Godsmilla droppings, shocking Turbopolsa trend-setting region swaps, and most-recently NRG's wild now-you-see-me-now-you-dont trick with Frosty, roster mayhem in RLCS is truly one of a kind.
But now, one organisation has gotten itself in quite the mess, as transparency about dropping an entire trio has opened them up to ridicule, shedding light on internal struggles while the CEO languishes over net losses.
Clovarity shares over-transparent statement releasing Rocket League roster
After just two regional Open Qualifiers, Clovarity has dropped their entire roster, having even made a transfer between each heat, dropping out of RLCS after just two weeks of action.
The organisation competing in North America announced the departure of Jacob "JPow" Powell, Jackson "ayjacks" Carter, and Jonathyn "jthyn" Stallings on February 18, going into great detail in a social media post regarding cohesion issues between themselves and previous Clovarity player Tristian "tcorrell" Correll.
The statement released saw Clovarity take aim at tcorrell's "ability to adapt to his teammates", "severely overpaid" Manager Joseph "M3" Kavanagh who "wasn't able to coach", and the "extremely unsustainable" results seen by the roster in the opening exchanges of RLCS 2024.
All of this has rubbed the Rocket League community up the wrong way, with "transparency" being praised, but the criticism of individuals to the public eye being negatively perceived as deliberately lowering said players' stock.
"It’s been interesting to see Clovarity pull the curtain back on their decision making," said popular community figure Jenna "catjeans" S, adding, "However, I can’t help but wonder how the team is feeling about how the information was phrased."
"Honestly there were a lot of unnecessary parts in the statement that just felt like dragging ex-players/staff through the mud under the guise of transparency to me," added Rocket League superfan "widthemid".
Clovarity CEO says 'haters going to hate' amid Rocket League roster drama
Amid the fallout over the statement, Clovarity CEO Teagan "Castle" Felker took to Twitter to say, "Also, haters going to hate regardless [of] what we do."
The CEO did take some positives from the reaction though, saying, "Good to see everyone is shocked we blew 24k in 3-4 months. The sad part, [is] that was a fairly good deal for the skill potential we had. Other orgs slightly above us in ranking spend equal to or more on their players."
However, Felker has said that their next statement, should they need to make one, will be "built with the players" while continuing that level of "transparency" which they feel will benefit fans and the wider Rocket League audience in the doings of organisations.
Already, this has opened discussions about wages in North America, kicking on from the debate that the region is "overpaid" despite having dropped down the standings in the global power rankings.
Clovarity is looking to get back into Rocket League, albeit with a "more sustainable" roster.