Trainwrecks slams EA for banning him from NICKMERCS tourney over “gambling” concerns

Theo Salaun
trainwrecks ea games apex legends

Popular Twitch streamer Trainwrecks has apparently been banned from NICKMERCS’ $50,000 Apex Legends tournament due to “gambling” content. In response, he slammed EA for “virtue signaling.”

NICKMERCS is hosting a $50k Apex Legends tournament in coordination with the game’s developers at Respawn Entertainment and EA Games. With a number of streamers being among the competitors, many wondered why Trainwrecks wasn’t invited.

And, as Nick revealed on stream, it’s because EA allegedly told his manager that “they don’t want [Trainwrecks] involved. Point blank, period.”

Now, Train has caught wind of the situation and elaborated on Twitter. With colorful language galore, the streamer flamed EA for the decision while calling their own microtransactions and business practices into question.

Trainwrecks banned from NICKMERCS’ Apex Legends tournament

As Nick explained during a November 1 stream, his management was allegedly told that Trainwrecks couldn’t be involved in the sponsored event. 

While, at the moment, Nick didn’t expand on precisely why his fellow streamer was banned — Train set the record straight just a couple hours later.

Trainwrecks slams EA for hypocritically “virtue signaling” against gambling

In two tweets from Train, he was apparently blocked from participating in the tournament due to his controversial “gambling” streams. Obviously dissatisfied with that explanation, he proceeded to call out EA for being “corrupt shady f**ks.”

In the flame session, Trainwrecks bashed EA for paying him $150,000 to stream Apex for four hours in the past. And, going further, he took aim at the company’s microtransaction practices with FIFA — which have been the subject of backlash and lawsuits in the past.

Calling EA “virtue signaling FIFA pack-gambling f**ks,” he directly called out the company for their decision to ban him for something they’ve been accused of propagating. He also noted that he would sponsor Nick’s tournament, which takes place on November 1, for $100,000 instead.

In replies to his tweets, many have agreed with criticism of EA’s choice in light of their FIFA system. So far, there has been no public response from the game developers and we will update this story once more information becomes available.

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About The Author

Théo is a former writer at Dexerto based in New York and built on competition. Formerly an editor for Bleacher Report and philosophy student at McGill, he fell in love with Overwatch and Call of Duty — leading him to focus on esports for Dex.