This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

　　StarCraft II casters Alex ‘Axeltoss’ Rodriguez and Nick ‘Axslav’ Ranish have been released from Major League Gaming as of the 12th of November.

　　Ranish told onGamers, "I had known for several months that the company was going away from SC2 and I would inevitably be let go but I had no idea exactly when I would be fired. I have a good number of career options both in and outside of the eSports world. Right now I'm trying to figure out exactly where my skill set can be best put to use and what the ideal place for me is."

　　When asked if the decision to let the two casters go was indicative of MLG further distancing itself from StarCraft Adam Apicella, Executive Vice President of MLG Properties told onGamers, "As we continue to flesh out our online programming plans at MLG.tv, our StarCraft content is still in flux and unfortunately keeping Axslav and Axeltoss on staff full time no longer made sense. They are both great commentators and we wish them the best on their future endeavors."

　　MLG has had a tumultuous year in regards to its relationship with StarCraft 2. Originally partnered with Blizzard to provide the broadcast for the North American World Championship Series, they would hand over WCS broadcasting rights to Hero Level Productions going into Season Two.

　　MLG’s CEO Sundance DiGiovanni stated at the time that they wanted to “refocus efforts on producing [their] own esports competitions” and that the organization felt it would “better serve the esports ecosystem to run tournaments independently.”

　　MLG ran SC2 at MLG Anaheim this year, but DiGiovanni did tweet that SC2 viewership was lower than expected. On August 8, he tweeted that MLG would not run SC2 at their upcoming Columbus event.

　　Photo Credit: mlg.tv