The VALORANT Champions Tour is coming soon, and a long offseason is creeping up right after it. The lack of events announced for the period has led pro players to share their frustrations on social media.
This prolonged downtime has left many professional players grappling with a sense of drift, like how former T1 player Daniel ‘Rossy’ Abedrabbo expressed on X (formerly Twitter), stating, “I’ve never felt like I’ve had less purpose in my life. Truly this schedule makes me depressed and I wouldn’t doubt other players as well feel similar.” 100 Thieves’ pro-player Sean ‘bang’ Bezerra echoed this sentiment, replying, “Feel this, wish I can time skip into 2025.”
Why 2025? Aspirants who didn’t make it to the VCT will have to wait another six months or so to try again because VALORANT’s competitive scene oscillates between an empty offseason and a jam-packed period during the major events. As a reply to Rossy’s post on X, Former YFP player Adam ‘boyc3’ Boyce and TSM’s Tyler ‘sym’ Porter opines on the current schedule saying, “fucking rough schedule man, i cant even imagine how shitty it must feel in that spot rn” and “hopefully schedule becomes better”—but the animosity towards how Riot has planned out this year’s events is nothing new.
The long breaks and packed competitive periods have created a cycle of intense activity followed by extended lulls, leading to mental health challenges for the players. Looking back at the 2022 and 2023 offseasons, a few tournaments were scheduled for pros of all levels during the period, giving them chances to warm up before the VCT season began.
Riot has not yet made a comment about whether the 2024 offseason will follow suit, and if the silence continues, pro players will have to keep up their spirits somehow outside of competing.
