H3CZ explains why OpTic and FaZe deserve more credit from CoD developers

OpTic Gaming CEO Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez built one of Call of Duty’s most iconic organizations from the ground up, and he’s defending the work him and many others put into the scene.

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OpTic Gaming will forever be associated with Call of Duty and it’s community, even as the game moves into a franchised city-based model in 2020. 

As part of Immortals Gaming Club, OpTic are one of the few organizations to dip into the new model so far, with many other organisations like 100 Thieves pulling out recently. The decision for some of these organizations to leave the scene has been tough to come to terms for fans, but some people are arguing for Activision.

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Toronto Defiant Marketing Executive Josh Olin commented on the 100 Thieves on Twitter, saying that “there’s something weird happening where much younger, less-proven companies are somehow flipping the narrative to suggest that it’s their strategic decision to not go along with Activision’s plans.”

• Read more: 100 Thieves pull out of CoD

He also said that Activision was the main driver behind the success of organizations like OpTic. “My perspective is that CoD…helped build those clan brands by giving them massive platforms to play on for free.”

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However, H3CZ hit back at the statement, saying that the OpTic community and other content creators were a big driver to CoD’s community success.

“To insinuate that creators didn’t help CoD because CoD is massive is not only wrong, but it diminishes the hard work we put in on this thing,” he said. “Now companies are paying “influencers” to play their game to their audience to get some crossover.”

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Olin argued that there is “a two-way bridge” between Activision and the community, and that the Call of Duty League is a way of Activision receiving some of the money the organisations have made over the last decade.

“I’d be the last person to take away from the importance creators have in marketing,” he added. “Activision is asking for a fee so that these brands building businesses off packaging of and monetizing on their IP can share in the cost burden of putting on events.”

This caused an uproar in the community, who said that Olin was out of touch with the impact content creators have had on the CoD community, and that the slot spots were too expensive. Many even said that without OpTic, the community wouldn’t exist.

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In another response, H3CZ explained how the likes of OpTic and FaZe had proved doubters wrong by moving beyond Call of Duty to player games like Minecraft or create totally separate content: “I played it strategically and made my players play it to prove YOU wrong in 2011 when you said that OpTic wouldn’t be OpTic if it wasn’t for COD, so we played MC and transcended COD, the way that FaZe has, the way that Tom has, the way that countless other creators have.”

OpTic as a brand is inseparable from Call of Duty, as are teams like FaZe Clan, Envy, and 100 Thieves. Many Call of Duty players have had a long-term impact on the game, be it through org management, esports, or content creation.

While OpTic won’t be playing under their banner in 2020, they will still be around servicing the Call of Duty community they’ve nurtured for so long.

Disclaimer: Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez is a minority shareholder in Dexerto Ltd.