North American team Luminosity Gaming has pulled away from the competitive VALORANT scene for the “foreseeable future,” the organization announced today. The players will still play under the organization’s banner throughout the remainder of NA VCT Challengers Stage Two, but Luminosity will try to find a new home for the roster.
Luminosity’s lineup is composed of Kaleb “moose” Jayne, Will “dazzLe” Loafman, Tanner “TiGG” Spanu, Adam “mada” Pampuch, Brandon Michael “bdog” Sanders, and head coach Jared “mac” Schneider. The organization entered VALORANT’s landscape in August 2020 and has since parted ways with all players from the original roster. Luminosity won just a couple of smaller championships after joining VALORANT and never attended an international event.
“Luminosity remains passionate about esports and we aim to continue to compete for championships in every esport that we participate in,” the organization said in an official statement. “Exiting VALORANT is not an easy decision for us, we look forward to Riot’s upcoming structure for 2023 and we do not rule out the opportunity to participate in VALORANT esports again down the road.”
The North American organization’s decision to leave VALORANT esports comes just a few days after Riot reportedly hosted a meeting with teams to discuss the partnership system for 2023. Dot Esports reported last week that the North American, Brazilian, and Latin American league will have eight to 10 teams that will receive a direct invite next year. The organizations will apply for a chance to become Riot’s partner over the course of the next few months.
As of this moment, it appears that the players and staff of Luminosity are interested in moving together to a new organization instead of parting ways now that they are restricted free agents. “Keeping our roster AND staff together is incredibly important to us, and vital to the long-term success of this team,” players moose and dazzLe said on Twitter.
Luminosity are 2-1 in NA VCT Challengers Stage Two’s Group B. The top four teams from both groups of six will advance to the double-elimination playoffs and the finalists of the competition will be awarded a slot in VCT Masters Two Copenhagen in July.