Astralis leaked emails on RFRSH reveal team had long wanted to leave

There’s more to Astralis splitting with their parent company, RFRSH Entertainment, than originally meets the eye. 

Recently, leaked emails were published by Dexerto that revealed Astralis’ players had been intersted in parting from RFRSH for a while. The email had been inspired by criticism the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team received over their decision to skip premier tournaments for RFRSH events. 

The email starts by addressing the team’s contracts being extended through 2021. This included all five players and their coach, Danny “zonic” Sørensen. Part of Astralis’ future goals included “committing to separating Astralis and BLAST further.”

Said the email: “As we look to 2020 and the possible development of a league, we must also recognize that the promise we gave two years ago—to, after a build-up phase, separate ownership of competition and team—is about ripe. The Astralis players have, as you all know, felt this on their social media streams and I have no doubt that it has affected them since Miami.”

In the email, Astralis states that no decisions have yet been made, but that they’re looking to make roles clearer in the coming months. This includes seperating employees between the two entities and fully dedicating roles to either BLAST or the teams. 

“Furthermore, this also means that we have started the first conversations with interested investors to acquire the majority shareholding of Astralis currently held by those also involved in BLAST, thus completing our committed separation at a shareholder level as well,” read the email. 

The email ended with a paragraph stating that Astralis, Origen, and BLAST have “created something very special in esports,” and while they should be proud of this, the futures of the businesses should be seperate. 

Before the email was leaked, RFRSH Entertainment CEO Nikolaj Nyholm had made a public statement that both Astralis and Origen are seperating from the company. The teams would be operating under a new company called RFRSH Teams, a temporary name. 

“We’re proud of the sports performance model and infrastructure we brought to Astralis and Origen. Now it is time for the teams to stand on their own legs. Astralis is profitable and Origen’s among the three best League teams in the West,” Nyholm said.