With the Arbalet trademark being thrown around left and right lately it is surprising that most people still do not even realize who Arbalet is. Arbalet is becoming a bigger name and figure in the world of e-Sports and it is time for us gamers to finally grasp the essence of this man's being.

This column is the sole opinion of the author and does not represent the opinion of Heaven Media Ltd or the opinion of any affiliates.

“The Slavic fat-cat” is just one of the many names given to Arbalet - a man whose existence remains a mystery to many. Murat Zhumashevich Tulemaganbetov, or “Arbalet”, is indeed a prosperous man who has been funding not only the Slavic but also the international gaming scene. Contrary to popular belief, Zhuma (as I like to call him) does not solely focus on the CS 1.6 scene. Over the past ten years he has funded and organized over 300 events, in over ten various games. CS 1.6, WarCraft, StarCraft, Unreal Tournament, Delta Force series, Quake and Age of Empires are just a few examples of the said games. It is unknown just how much Zhuma has spent over the past years, although it is also irrelevant. What IS relevant, is figuring out who he is to us gamers – not his biography, not the way he looks, but what kind of figure within e-Sports he is becoming. What are his intensions? Why is he doing ‘this’? Zhuma is becoming an important figure in international e-Sports (specifically in CS 1.6) and it is important to know your scene.

Our Zhuma is a family man. While most parents spend their days telling their children that they are confused and that their thought-process is incomprehensible, Zhuma thinks that children are not the only ones who are supposed to learn. As such, he noticed that his own children – three sons and a daughter – are interested in computer games. In order to not only understand his children better, but to also have a closer relationship Zhuma has decided to enter the gaming scene. All of this happened roughly 12 years ago – Zhuma is still in the scene, Zhuma is still supporting the scene and Zhuma is without a doubt still interested in games, even if it just because our family man - without a doubt – still loves his children, and he always will.

As said by Zhuma himself:

They [his children] showed interest in [computer] games and I – in effect – showed interest in them too, so that I can find out what world my children live in.

Zhuma is a true family man

It has been often suggested that Zhuma only invests into e-Sports because his kids are interested in gaming and because he CAN. And as such, his investments will not last for long, nor will they get ‘us’ far. Before going into that however, I must clarify a few things.

Firstly, Zhuma’s investments have not – by any means – been in vain. His very own Age of Empires II team became the worlds finest. No, really – the guys became the world champions of AoEII. Through his investments towards the AoEII team, he not only conquered the world stage of AoEII but he also grew and developed the AoEII scene into something much, much grander. According to their website, Zhuma’s AoEII team, The Legion Clan, has so far hosted 92 tournaments. It becomes clear that at first Zhuma invested into a little team, but eventually the team developed into a grand organization that not only hosts tournaments for VARIOUS games but also dominates some of the games’ competitive scenes. Money well spent. In another example, the – now – lionized Natus Vincere, aka Na’Vi, got to where they are now with the help (primarily funding) of Zhuma. In the true spirit of a family man, Zhuma even bought the guys an apartment to live and practice in.

This e-Sports investor differs from others...

Secondly, unlike most wealthy men who have previously invested into gaming, Zhuma knows the gaming scene, he knows the gamers and he knows what must be done in order to improve the scene. While most wealthy men have found a way to exploit gamers, Zhuma has been able to find multiple ways to fund the scene in such a way that it expands, grows, and develops over time, without getting too dependent. And get this - the aforementioned AoEII team was lead by Zhuma himself. That’s right, our family man is an actual gamer himself. With that I mean that he actively games, not just once per week, and that he actually developed a passion for eSports. He loves all kinds of games, from RTS titles to the FPS ones. According to players who have met him, Zhuma is just like one of the guys – he talks in the same fashion as most gamers do, he understands most gamers and – at the first sight - he truly seems to be just another gamer.

The following was said by prb, a player who has dealt with Zhuma:

I cannot really say how I imagined him to be, but what I’ve seen had exceeded any of my expectations. He looked young, slim and fit and he was radiating charismatic vibes of a kind all over the place. I’m not sure, maybe it’s just that it was the first time I’ve seen a millionaire and spoken to one from such a short distance, but he seemed very normal – he was not a posh dandy of a kind, there was no “rich folks behavior”; he was just like one of the guys. He spoke to and treated everyone equally, he knew our slang, he knew the tricks of the trade and he joked all the time.

Gaming since toddlerhood - truly hardcore

Arbalet truly is a gamer, albeit a very wealthy one. It seems as if he genuinely does aim to better the scene whenever he is helping to fund something within it and he clearly does not plan on wasting a couple of millions over a few years and then simply abandon the gaming scene as if nothing had happened.

When asked whether he is truly uninterested in creating publicity for himself via the events that he funds/hosts Zhuma said the following:

I am in fact uninterested in publicity. I’m an independent patronage. If I want to I will hold an event, if I do not want to – I will not. Nobody will force me to do something I do not want to. For as long as I am interested [in gaming] I will continue to hold events. Principally, I want to sponsor tournaments because I am personally interested in them. I want to support the CIS countries and I want our teams to play well, I want them to honestly break through and reach someplace somewhere. Having said that, I do not decide whether I will/will not sponsor one based on his/her nationality. Have a look for yourself: K23 team consists of one Russian, two Uigurs, one Kazakh and one Metis. How can anybody call that a Kazakh team? For me the CIS is like one big country. I travelled a lot, and I saw enough. And to be honest, I don’t understand it when all these bullshit fights start between Russians and Ukrainians. How is that even possible? We were one nation before, one big country… and now we refer to each other as “fat-munchers” [Ukrainians] and “Moscow-trash” [Russians]. I seriously don’t get it.

From the above one can easily derive that if Zhuma does not feel like it, Zhuma will not do it. Does that mean that he is capable of abandoning the scene? Yes, he is capable. But remember – the opportunity is always there. Just because he can does not mean he will. On another note, people have accused Zhuma of paying certain teams to lose games against Arbalet-sponsored opponents, effectively moving the Arbalet trademark to the top. Highly unlikely, but not impossible…

By now you should be getting a pretty good image of what I mean – is Zhuma just another pimp/profiteer, is he another passionate investor who is bound to have his dreams shattered by the same people he once financed or maybe he is an angel sent from above to rescue the e-Sports scene from becoming the e-equivalent of Haiti (2009, nevar forget)?

So who IS Arbalet? Arbalet is clearly not just a rich man. In fact, Arbalet is a wealthy man. The difference? A rich man is the man who receives the big paychecks. A wealthy man is the man who signs those paychecks. Power – the key difference between a rich and a wealthy man. The accusations alone show that Zhuma is already seen as a powerful man within the CS 1.6 scene. Besides that, ‘his’ teams – much like a private army - proudly wear the Arbalet signature (/A/) within their in-game names. Perhaps it is simply a sign of gratitude for support provided by Zhuma, or for that bought apartment. Because why would Zhuma need publicity? He said it himself… But then again, looks can be deceiving. A very wealthy man can make or break one, and as is the case with our beloved e-Sports. At the moment every single gaming scene can be developed into something grander. There is practically always room for development. If we play our cards right Zhuma can be the key to development. But for that one must first realize who Arbalet is for us gamers.

Suppose he is a family man, in which case we cannot do much but hope that his kids keep playing computer games like CS 1.6 and keep loving those games through the sweet and the bitter times. Being an experienced businessman, Zhuma is highly capable of finding a way to sponsor the scene in a way in which the scene does not become dependent but rather develops on its own. Unfortunately, having said that, I must also mention that he is also capable of finding a way to first develop the scene and later exploit it to his advantage (betting scandal, anyone?).

The oldschool Arbalet Delta Force Cup

In the case of him being an investor, we simply have to be as co-operative as we can and we also have to keep thinking of the future whenever we are about to make an important decision. We must realize what we are to investors – a business product. And as such, we must act differently; we must see e-Sports from a different perspective. In order to move the scene forward gamers and investors have to both co-operate – the right (outside) funding should go to the right (inside) people in the scene, so that they can do the right thing and help the scene develop. Investors should not just simply be throwing money around, much like gamers should not be simply abusing their sponsorships.

From what I understand, Zhuma is here to stay. From what I have heard and read the man has developed a passion for e-Sports, which means he will remain active within the e-Sports scenes. But I also learned something else about the Slavic fat-cat, namely the fact that most people – when thinking of Arbalet – only thought of a money hungry millionaire. On the contrary – Zhuma is a truly sound, wise family-man. He loves his family above all, he does not judge people based on their ethnicity and he truly loves to help people – not just because he can, but because he wants to. To me it seems as if Zhuma is here to stay. Knowing us gamers, his kids will continue to love games and Zhuma will – without a doubt – continue loving his kids, and as such he will remain a part of e-Sports for quite some time. Personally, I am not even happy because of all the money he provides, but because I have been once again proven that people such as him still exist and they still refuse to be quiescent – there is still hope.

So who is he to US? He is the man who is capable of giving us the opportunity to finally bring some development to e-Sports. But we must act wisely – we must realize that whatever funding we receive is not permanent; we must not become dependent. We must learn to not waste our sponsorships and we must teach our sponsors to not stupendously throw money around. The shitfuckery that we have seen over the past few years consisted out of people deploying all of their savings in one go into something they not only do not comprehend, but something they also aren’t truly passionate about. Those who are to invest in e-Sports should be investing because they are genuinely interested in e-Sports, because they genuinely care about e-Sports and because they want to develop them into something grand over time; the investors must be people who come to stay, people who do things for the future and not for ‘now’. Murat “Arbalet” Zhumashevich, or simply Zhuma as I call him, is that investor. Not only is he sound in general, but he also sees potential in e-Sports (not just because his kids enjoy games) and he truly wants and is capable of becoming a long-term partner – the man has been in the game for 12 years and he’s still here.

In the end, Zhuma can be compared to advice that one is given. What kind of advice you receive and whether you listen to it or not can make you or break you. As is the case with Zhuma. Be careful whose advice you listen to, but also be patient with those who supply it.

I will leave you with the following words:

I’m not an oil magnate, no. I sell tobacco, liqueur, tea, etc. I do have my own brands, but money is not that important to me... But yes, the quality of life is important to me. It’s important to me that my family is well taken care of and that my wife doesn’t need to work. But most important things in my life are love and my kids... I have three sons and one daughter, and it’s priceless when she comes to me and says: “Daddy, I love you so much!” I just melt, you know?.. With the boys it’s a bit different, I’m sure you understand, but still quite similar. I love my kids, and I love kids in general: I donate to orphans’ institutions and various homes for years and I never wanted any publicity for that. But you know when the kids hug you afterwards and say “thank you, Uncle Murat!” everything inside you turns upside down and sings!