OpTic CEO HECZ reveals Seattle Surge missed out on huge payday for Pred

OpTic CEO Hector ‘Hecz’ Rodriguez has confirmed the buyout price that was offered to Seattle Surge to sign Amer ‘Pred’ Zulbeari to OpTic Texas would have made him one of, if not the most expensive Call of Duty players ever.

During the 2023 Call of Duty League season, prior to Seth ‘Scump’ Abner’s retirement, OpTic Texas were making heavy moves to sign Australian star Pred from Surge, adamant that the game-changing SMG could bring the organization the championship glory that has escaped it for some time now.

While rumors ran rampant and it became clear that most parties wanted the deal to go ahead, the buyout figure was never confirmed officially. Now, Hecz has claimed that they were working on a deal in the region of $420,000, which would have easily made Pred one of the most expensive Call of Duty players in the game’s history.

“So in October 2022, we were going through the right channels to see if we could make something happen,” Hecz explained on his Eavesdrop Podcast, in which Pred was his guest. “We were going back and forth on the pricing, and the buyout went from like, $420,000 to get you, plus your salary … We really wanted you on the team.”

Timestamp of 11:34

The OpTic founder went on to admit that both he and Scump even planned on putting up some of their own money to make the buyout happen, that’s how much they thought he could add to the team.

Pred also revealed that prior to the Modern Warfare 2 season, Seattle Surge had rejected another buyout offer for him, with Atlanta FaZe coming in with a $500,000 offer, which would likely have meant their star man Chris ‘Simp’ Lehr moving to the flex role.

After the deal fell through for OpTic to buy Pred, he ended up joining them a few months later as a free agent, with Surge earning no money from the move.