It certainly did not take very long for Valorant to become one of the hottest esports on the market. The Ignition Series has only made the game’s popularity soar amongst gamers, pro players of other esports, and esports organizations. However, it hasn’t swayed Fnatic, one of the largest esports organizations, to test the waters just yet. In fact, most of the EU seems hesitant to jump in, even though North American teams are saying the water is just fine.
Fnatic Senior Team Director Colin “Cojo” Johnson recently explained the group’s reasoning in an interview with GGRecon. While Cojo acknowledges that some of these Valorant competitions are offering up incredible prize pools, Fnatic is just “feeling things out at the moment.”
Cojo also pointed out that the current global pandemic has additionally hindered any real progress.
I’ve personally probably spoken to 60, 70 players within Europe. We’ve definitely done our due diligence. To some people that might seem like we’re kind of sitting on our hands, but conversations have for sure been happening. There’s a lot of decisions to be made right now, especially around the COVID period has made things a lot more sensitive, and a lot more approvals need to go through, I would say in terms of getting things over the line, just because I think everyone’s been hurt by it with COVID.
2021 for Valorant?
Cojo went on to say that with the pandemic, they’ve pushed their entry into Valorant “at least another quarter, I would say I think Q4 is probably the earliest you could expect Fnatic to be seen with a team in Valorant.”
He continues: “It’s more likely to be in 2021 than 2020, but if we find the right combination of players, if we feel really good about an opportunity… we’ll take the shot on it.”
These days, most everyone is opting for the more cautious route. Considering the global health crisis, that isn’t a bad thing. Esports is changing for everyone as well, including how the organizations are handling tournaments.
Stay tuned for any and all developments on the Valorant esports-sphere.
Published: Aug 4, 2020 06:40 pm