A stunning turn of events has reportedly occurred just a few weeks into the VALORANT offseason as Evil Geniuses has reportedly allowed their players to pursue other offers less than a month after winning Champions—or take a pay cut to stay with the organization.
The Sept. 11 report comes from Max “purest” Katz, a long-time VALORANT reporter who has broken several prolific roster moves over the past couple of years. Katz says the members of the starting roster “would be subjected to a significant pay cut” if they stayed with the organization.
The report provides context to a series of disheartening and worrisome social media posts from various members of the EG starting roster from earlier in the day. Flex player Ethan Arnold made a couple of posts in which he laments his frustrations about winning not even mattering anymore. Other members of the team posted messages expressing their shock and dismay, with Corbin “C0M” Lee summing up the situation best: “Nothing makes sense.”
During this offseason period, very few expected any changes at all to come from Evil Geniuses aside from assistant coach Zikz departing last week, let alone a situation where potentially the entire championship roster could leave the organization completely. The team is less than a month removed from achieving the ultimate triumph in VALORANT and doing so in storied fashion by going from underachieving underdogs to world champions.
This is the second VALORANT team in a month to potentially jettison their entire roster after a major triumph, with the players from The Guard leaving after the organization refused to sign a partnership agreement with Riot after winning Ascension. Ludwig, an outspoken advocate for NA VALORANT, summed up the community’s sentiment by asking “If being the best team in the fucking world doesn’t guarantee you job security, what hope is there for esports[?]”
No official announcement has been made by EG as of yet.
