ImperialHal reveals why his Apex Legends superteam joined Falcons instead of DarkZero

Apex Legends star Phillip ‘ImperialHal’ Dosen has opened up on why he, Rhys ‘Zer0’ Perry, and Noyan ‘Genburten’ Ozkose took their super team to Falcons Esports instead of DarkZero.

The professional Apex Legends scene has been undergoing a big rostermania period over the last few weeks, but no move was more shocking than ImperialHal leaving TSM after five years. 

Hal’s exit from TSM prompted many rumors that he’d be joining Zer0 and Genburten on DarkZero, but instead, the two-time ALGS MVP and his two new teammates created a superteam under the Falcons Esports banner.

The trio had been quiet on why they chose to join Falcons instead of DZ, given that DarkZero has a background in Apex. However, Hal has now lifted the lid on why they made the move, despite claiming it wasn’t just for the money, he did admit the offer they received from Falcons was much more lucrative.

“People are believing that I left a team because I wanted to get a better contract, which is completely just not true. But, people will believe what they want to believe,” the Apex Legends star said during his May 29 stream.

“Was there a reason for it being a Falcons team and not DarkZero? Falcons offer was just like 10 times than DarkZero for all of us pretty much,” Hal added. “Not like 10x, 10x, but you get the point. The offer was way better, not literally 10x.”

The Saudi-backed organization has been splashing the cash across esports, including creating a CS2 team around former Major winners Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif and Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen. However, their efforts to sign Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač fell through. 

Their involvement with Apex, where many of the battle royale’s characters come from LGBTQ+ backgrounds, will raise eyebrows given that human rights organizations have criticized Saudi Arabia for historically restricted women’s rights and the rights of LGBTQ+ people. 

Apex is one of the games that will be involved in the Saudi-backed Esports World Cup, and Respawn had to confirm that queer characters will be playable.