shroud, Stewie2k and Kyedae to play in Valorant RE//LOAD event

Riot Games and Amazon are putting on a year-end Valorant event, ‘RE//LOAD,’ featuring pro players, popular creators, and fans – including the likes of Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek, Jacky “Stewie2K” Yip and Kyedae Shymko.

The event will start on December 16 and will be put on by Crown Channel in partnership with Riot Games. It will feature an in-person and virtual event experience in Atlanta, Georgia, and will be hosted by Ali ‘Myth’ Kabbani and Jacki Jing, who is no stranger to Valorant events, having hosted VCT Stage 1 Masters in Iceland in 2022.

The invited guests will compete across four different teams: Team Undercity, Team Vengeance, Team RGX, and Team Protocol. The Amazon press release also said that teams will compete in three “Valorant-inspired” onsite activities, along with other surprises. Additionally, the venue will feature live music performances from DJ Dabin and Mike Dimes.

This cup will be the first some fans will see shroud and Stewie2k, two players that have expressed interest in returning to esports competition in Valorant, compete for some time. Stewie2k has competed in other Valorant creator and pro player invites, like G4 Rumble and FaZe Smeag All Star Weekend in the past few months, but shroud has notably been absent from such tournaments.

Stewie2k has been attached to some teams and tryouts in the Valorant free-agency period, but has yet to be formally announced by an organization gunning for a Valorant Champions Tour spot in Challengers.

Stewie2k and shroud headline Valorant creators at offseason cup

The Valorant offseason has brought many creator-led events to the competitive schedule as streamers and pro players look to expand their audience and find avenues to compete against one another. RE//LOAD looks to be no different as streamers like iiTzTimmy, who has expressed interest in creating his own Valorant team for the competitive calendar with shroud, plan to play alongside other creators on Team RGX.

Riot Games and Amazon have been consistent collaborators across the developer’s different titles for in-game activations, Twitch drops and other events. The idea to come together for another event in Valorant, with live music and other activations with Crown Channel, was an easy decision according to the Senior Director of Brand Marketing at Riot Nikki Lewis.

“Valorant lives at the intersection of competitive gaming and up-and-coming music, so partnering with Amazon’s Crown Channel to throw an in-person event like RE//LOAD – both a gaming event, starring some of VALORANT’s fan-favorite streamers, and a music event, featuring rising artists like Mike Dimes, Jae Park, and Dabin – was a no-brainer,” Lewis said in a press release.