VALORANT is considered the biggest new Esport title in recent years and was received positively in the scene accordingly. However, for some teams, Riot Games’ future plans for the game are probably more bad than good. For Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan of the professional team Sentinels, it can almost be compared to a death sentence for the VALORANT scene.
The Sentinels are currently in boot camp to prepare for the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) NA Last Chance Qualifiers and to secure the last spot at the World Championship VALORANT Champions Istanbul. Still, training there seems to be proving a little more difficult. According to ShahZaM, there are difficulties in finding teams for practice matches.
The blame for the misery is said to lie with Riot Games’ affiliate programme. According to this, several Esport organisations have dropped out of the competitive VALORANT scene because they did not manage to make it to the next phase of the programme – according to the motto: all or nothing. This may also be the case with Luminosity Gaming. They announced in early June that they would withdraw from the VALORANT scene for the time being.
– Luminosity Gaming (@Luminosity) June 2, 2022
For ShahZaM, the affiliate programme was a bad move by Riot Games: “Riot is killing the entire scene.” However, other teams seem to be doing better with the programme. Similar to the League of Legends franchise, all organisations are expected to regularly share in the revenue generated by the VALORANT professional system.
TSM, The Guard, Cloud9 and NRG as well as Version1 have already been shortlisted for a VALORANT partnership. Nevertheless, it is not certain whether every team will end up in the partner programme with Riot Games.
