The VALORANT competitive ecosystem has been described as hostile after one championship-winning organization pulled out of the esports ahead of 2025. The inaugural VALORANT Champions-winning organization ACEND Club won’t be part of the 2025 season, after releasing a statement to announce a shock exit from the shooter’s competitive ecosystem.
The European org’s announcement was shocking to the esports community after their decision to depart from the pro-VALORANT on Monday, September 16. In the statement, the organization cited multiple reasons, including the esports’s extended offseason, “tiny” prize pools, and overblown salary expectations of VCT players for their decision to depart.
“The increasingly hostile ecosystem has simply made it untenable to responsibly run a team.” the statement read.
The organization began its time in VALORANT three years ago after signing the Raise Your Edge roster. That team went on to win the first Champions title against Gambit. That 2022 success wasn’t complimented as the team lost numerous big-name players this, forcing them to rebuild from near-scratch.
Afterward, Acend was forced to miss out on a VALORANT partnership for Riot’s VCT Partnership. Eventually, the team went through Riot’s Challenger ecosystem but couldn’t reach Ascending in 2023. The rot in ACEND continued into 2024 as they went below the VCT, ultimately forcing them out of the competition.
Former ACEND players have been going to social media to rue the franchise’s exit, demanding that the esports ecosystem could do better. Organizations continue to find it difficult to remain a viable business in VALORANT, with the VCT becoming a necessity for the organization to survive.
The VCT tier one has many perks, like revenue sharing through team bundle sales and the lofty prize pools. However, tier two competition only get incentives from getting to Ascension and moving to the league above. All these are despite Riot’s rebuilding the pathways connecting the VCT to tier two.
