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Ghost Gaming is retiring from VALORANT

Another North American VALORANT team has retired from the game’s competitive scene as a result of Riot’s selection process... Fragster | 3. September 2022

Another North American VALORANT team has retired from the game’s competitive scene as a result of Riot’s selection process to its franchised VALORANT league. Ghost Gaming has decided to retire from the game and let go of its entire lineup and coach.

In a statement via Twitter, Ghost Gaming shared that they have not been selected as a partner organization for the upcoming international franchised VALORANT League 2023 Americas. Although the organization is retiring from the game, they still reportedly plan to host events and provide content for fans. Exactly what that will look like remains to be seen in the near future.

Players looking for new home

Meanwhile, the former Ghost Gaming players will have to find a new home as the entire line-up has been released by the organization. Marc-Andre “NiSMO” Tayar, GianFranco “koalanoob” Potesio, Brock “brawk” Somerhalder, Mouhamed Amine “johnqt” Ouarid, and Alex “aproto” Protopapas are all now free agents. The organization has also parted ways with the team’s coach Adam Kaplan. How things will continue for Ghost players and the coach is not yet clear, but they are supposedly free to look for a new team in the upcoming offseason, following the conclusion of Valorant Champions.

Ghost Gaming had a landmark season in the NA 2022 VCT Stage 2 Main Event following the acquisition of aproto. They put on an impressive performance in the NA VCT Stage 2 Challengers Qualifier, losing only to Evil Geniuses in the upper bracket.

After qualifying for the VCT Challengers 2, Ghost emerged from the group stage 4-1. With victories over teams like The Guard, NRG, TSM and 100Thieves, Ghost looked extremely dominant. However, those results didn’t carry over to the playoffs, where they failed to win a single map, losing first to Evil Geniuses and then to NRG in the lower tier. Outside of VCT, Ghost Gaming won the NSG Summer Championship with a 2-0 win over TSM in the Grand Finals.

Bad times for VALORANT teams

Ghost joins a growing list of organizations and teams who have left competitive VALORANT after failing to secure a partnership with Riot Games in the 2023 Americas International League. Among the teams who have previously left are Luminosity, Complexity, Shopify Rebellion, NYFU, and others.

However, Ghost along with other departed VALORANT organizations may eventually consider returning to the scene, following Riot’s announcement of an expanded Tier 2 tournament system via Challengers for next year, with specific transfer windows and potential advancement opportunities.