Xeta Ends Valorant Career

Korean player Son “xeta” Seon-ho has announced his retirement from professional gaming. He notably played for significant Valorant teams, including Cloud9 and T1.

T1 VALORANT 팀의 ‘xeta’ 손선호 선수의 은퇴 소식을 전해드립니다.
T1 VALORANT 팀의 Pacific 리그에서의 시작을 함께해 준 ‘xeta’ 손선호 선수를 항상 기억하겠습니다.
팀을 위한 그동안의 헌신과 노고에 감사드립니다.

Today, we announce that ‘xeta’ is retiring from VALORANT.
We thank him… pic.twitter.com/imQZeJ3tPL

— T1 (@T1) February 15, 2024

Like most of his competitors in Valorant, xeta began his professional career in 2016 playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. He was a noteworthy name in the Asian region but never really made a breakout on the international scene, playing for teams such as MVP PK and TYLOO. 

In 2020, xeta pursued his next step by moving to Valorant, where his talents were quickly recognized. It didn’t take long for him to get scouted by a good organization. Cloud9 invited xeta to join the Korean iteration of the team, Cloud9 Korea. 

After a satisfactory display of skill, xeta was promoted to Cloud9, a secondary division to the organization’s North American project, where xeta played with players including leaf, Xeppaa, and vanity, who, in the present time, are some of the biggest names in North American Valorant.

Cloud9 qualified for Valorant Champions 2021 in Berlin and made it out of the Group Stage. However, the team was handed a 0-2 loss against Team Liquid in the Quarter Finals, resulting in Cloud9’s elimination. 

The Korean player stuck around in Cloud9 throughout 2022 but failed to qualify for the 2022 iteration of Valorant Champions. The string of poor results led to the departure of xeta from the North American squad.

Seon-ho decided it was time to return to where it all started and joined T1, a South Korean organization. Back home, xeta could play with his fellow countrymen, including Sayaplayer and ban, two popular names in the Korean scene. 

In Asia, T1 could place third in the Pacific League and qualify for VCT Masters and Champions. Unfortunately, global competition proved too difficult for the Korean roster, as they finished a disappointing 9th – 10th and 9th – 12th place in Masters Tokyo and Champions 2023.

At the end of 2023, T1 announced new signings, investing in the team structure for 2024. Sadly, xeta was not included in T1’s future plans. Shortly after, xeta announced his retirement from professional gaming in a lengthy Twitter post. 

ENG
Today i would like to announce that i’ve decided to step down from active roster and retire as a player, well i don’t know where to start and how to end my writting because there are lots of words to say in my mind 🙂

So first of all i’ve been played for 8 years straight…

— T1 xeta (@OfficialXETA) February 15, 2024

He claimed his mental and body health was declining, even though he had the help of his former organizations. A psychologist was still not enough to help xeta recover from his stress. The reason for him stepping back is to take care of himself and also to serve in his national military service. 

Xeta thanked all of his fans when he first came into the North American league and appreciated their warm-hearted support and his former teammates from Cloud9. 

It is awesome to see that he received a lot of love and positive words from North American players in the comment section of his announcement.