100 Thieves drop Apex Legends team amid uncertainty for competitive scene
Respawn / 100 ThievesOne of the biggest American esports organizations, 100 Thieves, have announced the release of their Apex Legends squad.
Apex Legends is one of the newest battle royale games on the market. However, this didn’t stop the game from becoming incredibly popular, as it quickly gained interest after a rather unexpected release in February 2019.
100 Thieves were quick to join the competitive scene, signing three players in late February – just a few weeks after the game’s initial launch.
Apex Legends instantly became a hit.Connor ‘Gigz’ White, Justin ‘Teenage’ Phipps, and Isiaih ‘Lifted’ Slowik made up the initial roster of the team, with Justin ‘JP2’ Pate joining in early April and eventually replacing Gigz, who began to focus on content creation.
During their time at 100 Thieves, the squad perhaps didn’t live up to expectations, largely placing in the bottom half of most tournaments they played.
On August 25, they managed a second place at the Rivalcade Apex Legends August Rumble, but that did not seem to be enough for the American organization, who announced that they are parting ways with their team on August 27.
Today we part ways with our Apex Legends team. Thank you @Teenage, @100T_lifted, and @100T_JP2 for representing 100 Thieves during your competitive Apex career. We wish you all the best in your future endeavors. pic.twitter.com/OG55u19wwV
— 100 Thieves (@100Thieves) August 27, 2019
100 Thieves did not give too much information behind the reason for releasing the team, simply thanking them for representing the organization in their announcement.
Other big teams like Cloud9 and Immortals have also recently parted ways with their group of players, so it’s also possible that the game may be falling out of favor.
On the other hand, two of the biggest tournaments to-date are just around the corner for the game’s competitive community, with the Apex Legends Preseason Invitational and Twitch Rivals TwitchCon San Diego both taking place in September, boasting an impressive $500,000 prize pool each.
With many teams at the Preseason Invitational not being tied to an organization, top teams like 100 Thieves may just be looking to sign new talent.