Riot responds to VCT Americas backlash with new pledge after The Guard’s rejection
Riot Game/Pavilhão PacaembuHead of Valorant esports Leo Faria has once again faced the music. Following Riot’s decision to have no promotion slots for VCT Americas after The Guard’s failing to sign the agreement, Faira has now pledged to find a new solution.
On August 29, Riot announced that The Guard, who had just won Americas Ascension and was promoted into VCT Americas, would not be joining the league as they “failed to meet the deadline to agree to the Team Participation Agreement.”
In the initial statement, Riot announced they decided they would not be promoting any teams from the Challengers League to VCT Americas, leaving the slot empty and the league with only 10 teams.
Despite an explanation from Head of Valorant esports Leo Faria, the community remained upset at the decision, and now a day after the announcement, Faria has responded to the backlash.
“I appreciate the passion with which you all showed up to advocate on behalf of the players,” Faria said of the community’s efforts to help out The Guard’s roster who was left behind in the decision.
“We hear you. There are still significant risks our team needs to dig into, but we’re working through this and hope to find a positive outcome for the players. We’ll update you all when we know more.”
Faria did not reveal any specific solutions Riot is working on to help the players of The Guard who earned the promotion. Additionally, Faria did not mention if Riot would revert their decision to not promote a Challengers team in the VCT Americas slot.
Faria had already explained that Riot had considered multiple options prior to the announcement. One was promoting the Ascension runner-up, which would have been M80. However, they decided against it citing the slot had to be earned “in-game, not out of it”.
Another was to allow the roster to be picked up by a differentorganization, however, he explained it could potentially open the door to buyouts, which Riot does not want.
So it appears those possible solutions are off the table for the time being. Exactly what new idea may come to fruition in the near future remains unclear, but we’ll be sure to update you here as any further details emerge.