Machine leaves ESL to go freelance

Alex "Machine" Richardson has left ESL in order to become a freelance caster and host.

His last event was the ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals in Brazil last weekend, meaning he is now free to host and cast tournaments from any organiser.

Machine is best known for his work in CS:GO and Call of Duty, where he was one of the main casters for the first season of the European Call of Duty Pro League. However he has also worked on other games, such as Overwatch, in recent months.

Today marks my last day as an ESL employee,” said Richardson on Twitter. Over 2 years of opportunities, life experiences and growth. It was an absolutely wild ride.”

While he is yet to announce any events that he will be working on, MLG’s Adam Apicella hinted that Machine may make an appearance at MLG Las Vegas in December.

There has been some speculation that the move may, in part, be because of ESL potentially losing the contract to run the Call of Duty World League. The German organiser was responsible for the first season, but as Activision now owns MLG may have speculated that they will run it internally.