Nadeshot Ripped on Socials for Gen-AI Casino Ad Posted Day After 100 Thieves Scandal
Days ago, 100 Thieves emerged on social media with a clear-cut apology for using generative AI in a recent run of RuneScape merchandise (the collaboration I never saw coming). The team said, ‘The design clearly had AI in it, and we missed it.’ Fair enough; they addressed that issue quickly enough, but the damage was effectively done.
Then, one day later, 100 Thieves’ co-founder, Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag, took to social media with a fully gen-AI video made to advertise his crypto casino streams. Needless to say, it invited rampant backlash from his extremely disappointed followers.
What’s His Problem?
Nadeshot has drawn constant flak on social media for participating in Roobet-backed streams that are thinly veiled moves to secure fat bags of cash. It’s no big secret, and he’s not alone – many streamers and pro esports players from past and present have soaked up similar deals in recent months.
Recently, 100 Thieves, the esports and lifestyle organization that Nadeshot co-founded in 2016, found itself lambasted on social media for promoting an attire collaboration with RuneScape that contained gen-AI content.
The team apologized in record time on social media, explaining:
100 Thieves was built by designers, artists, creators, and gamers that pour their soul into defining what gaming culture should be. AI has no place in our apparel design. A principle we share with Jagex, whose games and artwork are built on the creativity and craft of human artists and developers, and would not have approved of the use of AI in this.
Almost 24 hours later, Nadeshot dropped this gem on the same platform:
Bag or no bag, it drew unreal blowback from his followers.
One said, ‘I have lost so much respect for you, man.’ Another wrote, ‘AI slop and getting your fans addicted to gambling. What a combo.’
There were a few on his side: ‘I just don’t understand the gambling sponsor hate; let the dude make his money; the majority of his audience are adults.’
But those comments were few and far between. The majority were in the style of:
I don’t know if you always were this big of a loser or it just happened suddenly over the past 2 years or so. Definitely starting to believe NICKMERCS about you scamming the dude out of his ownership promise years ago. Seems like you’d sell your soul for some extra money.
From multiple claims of selling out to the crypto casinos to turning his back on his own organization, the comments under Nadeshot’s post made for some miserable reading.
There’s almost no world where this is a good move from a PR standpoint, but the money must be generational.
Are you disappointed in Nadeshot for this latest social blunder? Let us know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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