Since Valorant embraced franchising, the tier 2 system has fallen into disarray. Massive investments and the disbandment of established teams like the Guard have left the community questioning the state of tier 2 esports. While Valorant was once an unpredictable game where any team could rise to challenge the top, the entry of franchise teams has disrupted the tier 2 scene.
Before delving into the issues, it’s crucial to understand the distinction between tier one and tier 2 systems. Tier one comprises Valorant partner teams, enjoying a special connection with Riot and participating in major tournaments.
Tier 2 teams, like the Guard and M80, lack the privileges of tier one, missing out on experiences like the Masters walkout or live crowds. Although not guaranteed to beat tier one teams, these non-partnered teams must go through the Ascension system, the sole pathway for non-partner teams to enter the main league.
Orgs Pulling Out
Why do we say the tier 2 scene is dying? Well, in any esports whenever you see a mass pulling-out from orgs, it’s a pretty accurate sign that the scene is dying. Fewer orgs lead to fewer teams, lead to fewer new players getting a chance to be recognized and prove themselves. Here are just some of the organizations that have left Valorant:
- Ghost Gaming:
- Entered VALORANT in January 2021.
- Left VALORANT in September 2022 due to a failure to secure a partnership.
- Released roster.
- DarkZero:
- Entered VALORANT in summer 2021 with the Kooky Koalas roster.
- Left VALORANT in July 2022, according to members of the starting roster.
- NYFU (NYXL):
- Entered VALORANT in September 2020 under the Andbox banner.
- Rebranded to NYFU in April 2022 after signing a new roster.
- Left VALORANT in July 2022, according to members of the starting roster.
- Luminosity:
- Entered VALORANT in August 2020.
- Left VALORANT in June 2022; the roster eventually signed with Shopify Rebellion.
- Rise:
- Entered VALORANT in August 2020.
- Hasn’t officially left VALORANT yet but has transferred nearly its entire roster to other organizations.
- SoaR:
- Entered VALORANT in April 2021.
- Left VALORANT in July 2022, as per an official announcement from President Michael Maknojia.
The list goes on and on. Moreover, these are just the orgs that have taken off early; during the first year of franchising, there were orgs like TSM, Shopify Rebellion, Faze, Disguised, MAD Lion, OR Esports,The Guard, which now have all released their rosters and ceased their investment in Valorant Challenger League.
Reasons for Orgs Pulling Out
It’s simple: money, money, and money. The whole of esports is now entering a phase called esports winter, where it’s really difficult for orgs to make any profit, even for the biggest ones. Cloud 9, for example, being an absolute top-tier org that was also selected by Riot as one of the rare orgs to be in franchising, recently put out a tweet saying “2023 has been an incredible year that brought Cloud9 back to profitability despite difficult conditions in our industry…”
Imagine if one of the biggest gaming orgs, one of the most recognizable brands in esports is struggling to make a profit despite being in franchising, then what kind of peanuts and scraps are the small orgs in tier 2 getting?
The Guard Situation
Not only tier 2 orgs are not getting their desired returns now, they have to worry about not getting enough returns even if they make it through all odds to win Ascension to be in franchising. Riot has shown time and time to make very questionable decisions, one of which is how they handle The Guard winning the first Ascension tournament.
The Guard’s journey took a dark turn when reports surfaced that the organization was releasing all Valorant players without buyouts and would not participate in the VCT Partner League the following year. Riot confirmed that the Guard failed to meet the deadline for team agreement on VCT Americas participation, leading to their exclusion.
Riot initially wanted to exclude The Guard and not promote any org whatsoever, which everyone can see obviously makes no sense: a decision that punishes 5 talented players who fought their way into franchising, and it also wastes a franchise slot that could be taken up by promising orgs such as M80.
Following public outcry, Riot reversed its decision, giving the Guard’s players an opportunity to find a suitable organization for the 2024 Valorant Champions Tour. Ultimately, G2 acquired the Guard players, entering as contenders in the next VCT season. The point is, why would anyone in their right mind invest potentially millions of dollars into a Valorant tier 2 team when even after winning tier 2, there is a chance Riot just takes your spots, players, and gives it to another org?
Why Does Valorant Have To Franchise?
But as much as we can flame Riot and their whole franchise ecosystem, looking at it objectively reveals a more nuanced point: Franchising is inevitable.
We can flame Riot for bad execution of franchising, but the fact is that in order to create a healthy, sustainable ecosystem, Valorant HAS to franchise. At the beginning of the game, every org flocks to Valorant not because they were making money. It’s because they prayed on the day that they will be the one selected into franchising, and when news came out that they were not, they left.
If franchising didn’t happen, many of these orgs wouldn’t be in Valorant in the first place. The esports bubble has broken: there is not as much revenue in the scene as people expect. The only esports that can thrive without franchising is Counter Strike 2, but that is only because that esport receives most of its funding from casinos.
If you didn’t know, CS has long been associated with gambling because of their case opening mechanics. To get any skin in the game, you practically have to practice in gambling, opening a case to hope that you get what you want. Because of this, many casinos invest their money into CS2 to advertise their services, since many CS players are basically gamblers already. These casinos advertise everything: from skin-related games, to betting on the CS matches, even to casino games that have zero relation to CS (slots, poker, plinko…)
In Conclusion
Yes, tier 2 Valorant is dying. No, it’s not only because of franchising, the whole esports ecosystem for 95% of games is experiencing the weakest point in its market. Yes, when tier 2 is actually dead, it will lead to the death of tier 1 since no more new talent will be developed.
As for the orgs, there needs to be a brand new approach to Valorant esports. There can still be profit, but they need to spend very responsibly, put great effort in improving the brand with content creators and streams, as well as making dope-ass merchandise.
Regarding Riot, maybe it’s not a bad idea to learn from CS, not as in opening up the floodgate for casino sponsors, but trying to create more incentive for the people watching. CS streamers like OhnePixel gathers a huge audience for himself because he’s engaged in a lot of case-opening and skin-trading, and casino streamers like Roshtein can just play slots/plinko and still get 10K plus viewers because he has a drop system where once in every 15 mins or so, some random viewers will get a nice cash prize.
So, why can’t Valorant esport adopts the same gimmicks from both streamers? Create cases for Valorant in-game items to add some RNG and excitement into the in-game ecosystem, while having drops for viewers watching matches (Valorant can still stay very PG by switching the cash prizes with skins, which are unsellable so it wouldn’t be seen as gambling at all).