The Valorant e-sports scene has been thriving for quite a while now, as video game company Riot Games continues to learn from the shortcomings and mistakes that happen over on their other franchise’s professional scene, League of Legends. However, issues and controversies continue to slip through the cracks despite the resolutions that Riot tries and accomplishes. 

The Guard’s letdown

Over the course of the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) 2023, there were two key events that set precedents for the future of the esports scene in the years to come.

The first of the two comes in the form of The Guard’s VALORANT team. The way the entirety of the tour is set up, is that there are multiple Tiers that teams can join to fight for the top spot. The lower tier is called the Challengers League, non-franchised teams compete at this level first, and the winner would then have the opportunity to play in the Champions League, which is where all the franchised teams currently are in.

The Guard was one of the Challenger teams that managed to win the tournaments in order to qualify for a franchised spot. However, Riot Games made a statement indicating that there would be no promotion of the Guard into the Champions league. This is due to an apparent shortcoming on the administrative side of the Guard wherein they were unable to meet the deadline for signing the Team Participation Agreement.

This was not received well by the fans on social media, as they were in outrage, expressing that the players who worked hard to win the tournaments should not be punished for the oversight of their management. Currently the players for the Guard are trying out for other teams in order to still get the chance to play in the upper league.

A Champion’s Punishment

With the recently concluded VCT Champions 2023, the off-season for roster changes and scrims begins. However, despite winning the entirety of the championship, VALORANT professional team Evil Geniuses (more known as EG) has reported that they will be offering a 50 percent paycut for the salaries of their VALORANT players. 

However, EG has also announced that the team’s players would be free to search for opportunities with other teams in order to find a payout that would be satisfactory for them. However, the caveat to this is that because of their recent world championship win,  the buyouts for each of the players are currently too high for any E-sports organization to afford.

The Rundown

These two events are both key in shaping the VALORANT esports scene in a way that would be beneficial for the players, the fans, the organizations, and everyone else involved in the tournament, as well as the scene as a whole.

Hopefully the changes that manifest from these two controversies stay on the more positive side, allowing the scene to transform again into a field of fun for everyone, rather than a business built on the passion of its players being taken advantage of in the end.