Financial Match Analysis: Player vs. Commentator

streamed Sep. 21, 2021
Why doesn't anybody ever just ask when they don't know something?
Follow Sajam on Twitter & Twitch:
/ sajam
/ sajam
/ discord
If you're ever confused by some terminology try looking it up in the FG Glossary:
glossary.infil...
Clips Channel:
/ sajamclips
Editing/Thumbnail by Magic Moste:
/ magicmoste
#FGC #Sajam #Gaming

[@TastySteve]

gonna report this video for too many actual facts about what we do

[@236Doodad]

I drank every time sajam touched his hair while watching this and now I'm on an IV in the hospital waiting room.

[@deadfr0g]

I touched his hair every time he touched his hair. Perks of watching youtube alone when no one else is around to judge you THIS IS NORMAL MOM HE’S MY FRIEND

[@Carlos-xx6ei]

i tried this and im almost about to throw up not even one minute in

[@madthrasher88]

Are you 6 IV doe

[@arachnofiend2859]

Ain't it weird how straight up wage theft is something we just accept as a fact of life

[@mario-nk7be]

Cant pay for a lawyer anyways bc they didn't pay me

[@SomniaCE]

Yup, esports is a bubble where almost no one makes a decent living and investors are just hopping it blows up someday while they make nothing on investment. We're starting to see the pop.

[@Call555JackChop]

Yo I can pay you in cash by the next Olympics or you can be part of the eSports ecosystem and I’ll hook you up with some sweet esports coin right here right now for a job well done

[@bageltoo]

Definitely seems like a “Grass is greener on the other side” situation

[@SupermanSajam]

Goes for everything

[@tootsie_]

@@SupermanSajam that's why people hate Sol right?

[@AntanovOCEFGC]

@@tootsie_ That's not that funny...

[@greenoftreeblackofblue6625]

@@AntanovOCEFGC people not getting pay for a job is funny tho

[@AntanovOCEFGC]

@@greenoftreeblackofblue6625 Eh

[@ErikNiceBoy]

Qudans: "Bruce it's been 5 years, you still owe me $16" TrueGaming Tournament: "Fuck off!"

[@juliuswenceslao9655]

middle eastern esports tournaments are disgusting, they boast these super large prize pools only to not give it to the winners. boom esports afaik hasn't receive their prize in the dota 2 tournament and now the prince of saudi has a 30M tournament. let's see if that oil baby can actually pull a decent tournament

[@Holesale00]

"A can of White Claw and an Uber, take it or leave it." Freelance work in a nutshell.

[@duggyfresh8899]

No thanks for the white claw and uber, but I will take a 6 pack of DosEquis and a twisted tea with no uber

[@tootsie_]

Thats a damn good deal

[@Y20XTongvaLand]

What if I don't drink?

[@BetaManicCommand]

I love this new saga of Sajam being up in Riot Games' face and taking advantage of their stuff.

[@JJJct333]

The thing about making a union or guild is that basically everyone has to be onboard, and setting up something of that scale is obviously quite hard. Of course it's absolutely worth doing, but it would take time

[@maliksmith9003]

Ahh, the tragedy of the American workplace. A union is something almost everyone needs, but it's a huge undertaking and if it doesn't happen clean and fast enough everyone involved is screwed.

[@piinkhat]

okay yeah but how often do top players get to eat all of Riot employee's catered food, huh? checkmate.

[@lorentsenjr]

Don't get distracted by the discussion of who makes more of players and concentrators. Wage theft is the most common theft in the world, and unionization has to be the solution

[@Skimmytimmy]

!!!!!!!!!!

[@dianauwu1312]

This this this this this

[@liammaloney13]

Unionization is only the solution if you accept that the average worker is too dumb to defend themselves. People continue to let companies walk on them as individuals and to allow others to be trampled on are equal parts of perpetuating the problem. All that'll end up happening is that the union leaders will get paid off for shitty contracts, or they'll just be non union companies that continue to act on 1099s.

[@lorentsenjr]

@@liammaloney13 you really need to read up on what being unionized is about if this is your take.

[@liammaloney13]

@@lorentsenjr I've worked in a union. I live in an area with heavy union activity. Go on and educate me on something I've personally been involved in.

[@JaytsuVA]

the finances of freelance FGC stuff always makes me concerned for the talents (players and commentators alike) -- i'm sure it's a reality of working with big ass companies, but glad we can support the individuals on their streams at the very least

[@OldManSilencer]

It's not just FGC that has that. Basically every freelance work of any kind basically have to harass people to get paid very frequently. not defending it in the FGC it's shitty people should be paid for the work they do in any field.

[@JaytsuVA]

@@OldManSilencer for sure! I just consume a lot of FGC content so that's where i see it, but I'm sure it goes across every industry with freelance workers.

[@eataneraser]

It's totally fucked that Sajam can be so calm about NOT GETTING PAID for DOING WORK and just have to sit there and take it because you're replaceable. Every single industry needs unionization, it's the only way to tamp out these corporate fucks' absolutely vampiric practices.

[@UnusuallyLargeCrab]

Perfect now we can help amazon exploit them too

[@sanguinepenguin9576]

@@OldManSilencer idk, Im a massage therapist but I guess difference is I dont work w companies I work w people

[@swkki9461]

I definitely thought this was a match analysis when I clicked on it

[@SweetLuups]

I watched exactly 60 seconds of this and can confirm the music industry and most events operate in the exact same manner.

[@VoidEternal]

It's nice to actually have some real world perspective of the FGC to enjoy. I hope more people do shit like this so those of us who can't really get involved can at least know what it's like.

[@cFrogjar]

Hearing Americans talk about unions this way is so sad 😞 people there have no power

[@CodemanS1]

Yeah it's completely disheartening to hear a fellow American barely mention collective bargaining and unionization only to re-iterate it's a complete pipe dream and only Scabs are allowed to exist

[@ehvaandal]

In this country the company really will just go around you. These fuckers will close factories at the first hint of a union forming.

[@sanguinepenguin9576]

a lot of Americans literally think that unions are evil socialism it's insane

[@sanguinepenguin9576]

@@ehvaandal yeah, our government not regulating them because of lobbyist interests if you ignore all the smoke has always been what is killing our country

[@DoctorChuck]

I mean he's right? He already talked about this in a previous video that he already doesn't get hired for some events because his rates are too high because he thinks(knows) he's good at his job. If his rates went up again or he became more difficult to work with because now there is an agent or union someone has to go through, then he would get even less jobs. Freelance work is freelance work and you work for yourself.

[@sgr_sean]

People would rather complain about who is making more and start an us vs them situation, because they feel like they can't just go at the company for not paying enough. It's interesting how everything is in the companies favor alot of the times and yet asking for fair payment is always a line not to be crossed with them.

[@RFLCPTR]

capitalism.

[@luckyumbasa417]

Cool to see you do a serious response on commentary side despite it being prompted by low tier twitter assumptions.

[@heromedley]

people loooves talking about shit they have zero knowledge about like bruh even employees arent getting paid on time wtf do you mean.

[@MonsteriousE99]

Thats twitter in a nutshell

[@aganaom1712]

how to not find work as a commentator "i only take payment in advance"

[@dropthedice]

As long as the offer of commentators gets bottlenecked by a relatively smaller demand that also isn't that concerned about quality of what they might consider a garnish to their product, then you're likely having that type of situation.

[@Howl_3DN]

I wonder if you could record a convo with a TO, or maybe you don’t need one, to follow this up with a “finances of running a tournament”. Seems like the natural place this discussion would go. Perhaps you thoughts on how you would make it better if you could.

[@nakedbeekeeper9610]

Sajam underselling his main per usual.

[@ryanpirosch3977]

I think a lot of people don't realize that winning in the fgc and making commentary are two wildly different skill sets and so we settle for extremely mediocre commentary too often

[@breakr16]

Hirez studios failed to pay me out for winning a tournament; worst part is I was friends with the esports manager and the dude ghosted me when I asked about it. Hasn’t talked to me in years, never got paid 🤣

[@thepicausno5561]

As someone who works in freelance, contracts are SO important for this kind of thing. If someone's 4 months late to paying you, having a sheet of paper they signed saying when you're supposed to get paid is the only reliable way to make sure you get your money.

[@spencechan]

Sajam getting paid in exposure, the struggle is real

[@ZeludeRose]

"they LOVE vicious" this aged so well now that hes literally in the game

[@gungy_vt]

Use Riot's bathrooms and take all their free toilet paper. It's the perfect plan.

[@Sorrelhas]

What was that show you mentioned? No Neutral, with Brian and Rob?

[@jaksida300]

Commentators make better KZbin/Twitch content than players. It’s a 8-2 matchup.

[@oliviawallace3636]

also I can confirm if you're outside the US a commentator near the top of your scene likely does not get paid period

[@TruJohnson1]

As someone looking into commentary and analysis this was extremely insightful. Thanks Sajam Guy ☺️.

[@RavenTaleLive]

Very informative insights, Thank you so much!

[@Gonzakoable]

We need to make the fg commentator paycheck tier list

[@flashburn117]

Players and commentators going at it about differences in how much people get paid and how much work it is while us in production are full copium lmao.

[@ComplexInsanity]

This is facts. I do plumbing "free lance" once you say you have a lawyer these customers disappear off the face of the earth. They get a new name, house, and ssn. Its wild. Then they just get someone else who doesnt have a lawyer.

[@chasepalumbo2929]

“People just go ham about stuff” TRUE

[@selofeals947]

Damn commentators must hate not getting jobs because SAJAM took the job again

[@mistersandman2633]

Sajam has the personality of a Xanax. Yet somehow he is one of the better commentators

[@BigDaddyWes]

No job is truly stable and people have huge misconceptions about a job they've never done.

[@loremasher]

I know how much you make, it's easy to calculate, really, you just multiply the amount of different t-shirts you wear on stream by guapos in the chat

[@JameboHayabusa]

Just drink the whiteclaw and make them deal with "drunk off of one whiteclaw sajam" out of spite.

[@Ormsen]

03:23...And you never left me no messages, you never sent me no letters" - Majas

[@datkid605]

NOOOO NOT KYLE IN THE THUMBNAIL LMAOOOOO

[@fluffykitten077]

The problem with going ham is that everyone likes ham.

[@walterburdzy5408]

Damn he's downing a White Claw on the hotel floor.

[@xarezarcs4125]

I know in smash/melee toph one of the top commentators got signed to a team. Maybe its different cause its more grassroots events for melee?

[@ricardomilos5893]

remember when fucking skisonic was on commentary every damn time hahaha remember when daigo's donation money went to skisonic going back to school hahahaha

[@BigDaddyWes]

Sajam makes me so happy to not be on Twitter.

[@whatevsimbulletproof]

But the total prize pool for tournaments is like 30k once four years. Is your room actually a greenscreen and you are streaming from a tent in the park?

[@Mrkrillis]

@sajam would you consider doing non fighting game commentary?

[@strafer8764]

If someone refuses to pay you and steals your money why do you care about keeping them anonymous so they can end up stealing from someone else? Hit em back.

[@hoboryan3455]

If someone doesn't pay you, you shouldn't care about them hiring you again.

[@kinginthenorth1437]

I make $0 playing and $0 commentating. Guess this checks out.

[@madthrasher88]

When your employer is a sol slashing, +2 havin mutha pkucca

[@Zachary_Sweis]

Yeah, Boi. Tell 'em how it be, Steve, tell 'em.

[@robismetal]

I wonder if Qudans ever got his payout

[@Reydriel]

He never did iirc

[@Arlo5.13]

Everybody is overworked and underpaid if you ask them their opinion, it’s just how it be sometimes 😅

[@greenoftreeblackofblue6625]

Tip your waiters and pay your commentators

[@Reydriel]

Waiters shouldn't need to be tipped just to get minimum wage in the first place, that's probably even more fucked up honestly

[@sammyflo6098]

Kinda related but not, about big companies being shitty. I used to be a private contractor. That would do inspections and certifications. Large companies where normally terrible to get paid from, normally didnt even have a protocol for paying a contractor , that the manager of a certain store hired. Small companies, always easy, same day payed and paperwork submitted. Large companies , you just end up talking to a bunch of people that have no idea what they are talking about. or have some weird rule for the contractors. like them needing to sign up on some strange website.

[@mitcht2984]

I think I am a Sajam simp....

[@ImarBenIsrael]

Sounds like u guys need to consolidate together and make these companies pay you all your worth . Strikes etc . The problem is tho , there's many cats with no hearts and courage to not jump at the chance to take your famed spot even tho u are striking for a gd reason that benefits everyone . I say strike. Players , commentators , all and whomever . But that's me .

[@Yuki_1927]

It's weird to have a discussion about money in a scene that doesn't have any.

[@meljXD2]

I want to compete but I want to make content. What a cross road.

[@Luminousplayer]

i think its kind of a stretch that being on a team wouldnt allow you to commentate a match where a teammate plays?, its not like your commentary will affect the actual plays being made, if your commentary becomes critiques of the opponent or you blatantly are cheering for your teammate then that would be "unprofessional" in general rather than "conflict of interest" ?

[@a_wild_Kirillian]

Probably it's something like "we want you hype for everyone but you company (team) wants hype for themselves and downplaying for others"

[@virtualremedy8682]

I mean if its contracted work for net pay is that not a sueable offense to not pay you at all? Genuine question

[@gaaalavant]

He most likely could sue. But he'd run the risk of pissing off people in the industry and never getting hired again. "Oh don't hire Sajam he's a pain in the ass, let's just hire [new guy], he's cheaper anyway."

[@Bloodyshinta1]

"if you chase money from someone you may not get hired again" Why do you want to work for someone who doesn't pay you lmfao

[@gabebise693]

You need work?

[@Try_Hard_Dad]

I just wanna know who the 6 people who disliked this are... Capcom Hello? That you?

[@BlueRuki]

This was actually pretty sad to listen to.

[@ckenshin3841]

dang 69% off, what a deal!

[@richardjohnson8991]

Yo but for real hit me up with that 420% discount on a fight stick, I'm in need

[@Brian-xr8cl]

69

[@Sorrelhas]

Everytime

[@youngcrespo]

nice

[@BiscuitDeluxe]

the most unpaid job in the fgc is being a crowd to these "commentators" and "top players" i mean i can speak and play too

[@unconsistentone5385]

*interesting means dumb

[@Zachary_Sweis]

@5:53 LOL

[@shtev2218]

Why would you work for them again if they aren't paying?

[@trippersigs2248]

Cause it isn't that simple. Especially if you're freelnce

[@v312ym34n_is_very_mean]

Because they can keep you from getting work from others too. I have a friend who works in a very particular niche in the entertainment industry. In my country, she's done work on things that are on tv and are watched by millions of people.... Like way way bigger than fgc or e sports viewership. And the stuff Sajam talks about happens to her and her colleagues all the time. And they try to form a guild and there is enormous pressure not to. When power is completely concentrated to a few entities and the workers are replaceable, it doesn't matter if you're skilled, you command shit money and negotiating clout, and that is capitalism for you.

[@Cunt143]

"Why work at mcdonalds if it pays like shit?"

[@Holesale00]

Exposure. Especially in a niche industry where everything is semi tightknit networking is king event organizers talk and share the same talent pool more or less, you never know if the guy you met at blank event 3 months ago will lead to your next gig.

[@Reydriel]

Got no other choice. Either them or no work at all. Cap'talism eh

[@KittSpiken]

Why would you be afraid of someone not hiring you again if they're not going to pay you? "I dunno, if I press to hard they won't think of me when they need someone to take advantage of in the future."

[@EyeonFGC]

Kyle Noooooooooooooooooo hahahahahaha 😂 #PhillyFGC

[@mdqp2]

Look at this filthy commentator downplayer! We all know commentator vs player is a 9-1 match-up.

[@galtar862]

It is mad fucked up how capcom did you to be fair, I’d be tight as fuck if I were u even though I know it isn’t productive

[@Siberianhusky89]

Whoa. Another unimpressive match in another unimpressive game? It's like all the passion of Guilty Gear was sucked out in order for people who didn't care about the series and still don't to feel good about themselves.

[@badgermanjoe8357]

Yikers dog, I think you may have posted your weirdo hate comment about a game you don't have to watch in a video without any gameplay footage at all😬. Maybe next time actually watch the vid first? Or don't click in the first place if you think it's a strive match and you don't like the game?

[@SlipthePsych]

The legend has arrived

[@Siberianhusky89]

@@SlipthePsych I'm a God, son. Legends die out. I live on forever.

[@superkaylo]

We stan a true maniac

[@Siberianhusky89]

@@superkaylo Don't take me so seriously when I say crap like that. Plus, I'm not a fan of Sajam. I don't dislike him, but I honestly am bothered that he thinks so much of Strive. Lately, there's been less shit to enjoy in this crappy, half assed, mediocre world for someone like me. Guilty Gear was one of the few things I had left to enjoy and I would've liked continuing forward with it. Instead, now I have to watch this half assed game called Strive. One of the biggest embarrassments to fighting games. There have been fighting games that were far more interesting than Strive that didn't even get a fair chance, yet that mediocre portrayal of the game is what got attention? Then people justify the game with "depth!" It just shows people are delusional and want to feel special for no reason.