Petition to let The Guard players compete as another organization reaches major milestone
Lance Skundrich/Riot GamesThe Valorant Community has started a petition to have Riot Games let players from The Guard compete under another organization, and it has reached a major milestone.
Riot Games announced on August 29 that The Guard would not be joining the ranks of VCT Americas due to missing important paperwork deadlines. The community reaction has not been kind to the developer as fans, professional players and pundits have decried the decision as short-cited and unfair to the players.
The players, for their part, were unaware of the behind-the-scenes issues with their organization and learned about the news from social media like everyone else.
The Global Head of Valorant Esports, Leo Faria, gave an update on the situation later in the day to try to explain the developer’s reasoning for the decision. That was also met with backlash from the community.
A petition has been started in the wake of the news that members of the Valorant esports community have signed to allow the players from The Guard to play in VCT Americas under a different, more functional organization.
Valorant community members sign petition over The Guard ruling
The petition has since crested over 5,000 signatures and is still climbing at the time of writing. Community members also gave their reasons for signing the petition.
Those reasons range from “Riot is dumb” to varying versions of “The players deserve their spot in the league.”
The Guard has since released its players from their contracts to give them an easier time finding another team. Without a contract with The Guard, the players will not have to convince teams to pay their contract buyouts as well as wages when signed.
As it stands, Riot has not flipped on its decision to not look for alternative organizations for the players to sign with for VCT Americas and has no plans to let another team promote in their place.
