Shopify Rebellion Releases VALORANT Game Changers Roster, Leaving Players as Free Agents
In a surprising announcement, Shopify Rebellion has made the decision to release its VALORANT Game Changers roster, making all the players unrestricted free agents from this point forward.
In a video posted on Twitter on Oct. 26, program development lead Dario “TLO” Wünsch announced the news. He stated, “Today we are announcing the release of our VALORANT Game Changers roster, allowing all of them to explore their options unconditionally going into 2024.”
TLO acknowledged that fans of the organization might be surprised by this move, considering that the Game Changers roster has been their most successful team in VALORANT.
While the male players on the team have struggled in tier two without much success, Shopify Rebellion GC participated in the first-ever Game Changers World Championship last year. They managed to eliminate their long-time rival Cloud9 White (now Version1) and finished in second place worldwide after a reverse sweep against G2.
The core members of Shopify GC, Erika “KP” Lytle, Kayla “flowerful” Horton, and Diana “sonder” Zhang, have been playing together since June 2021, making them one of the longest-standing groups in the North American Game Changers scene.
The Struggles of 2023
However, according to TLO, the roster and organization didn’t meet their goals in 2023. He admitted, “The truth is, we struggled this year. Not only did we fail to qualify for Champions, but we also fell short in creating the team culture that we want to build our program on. We brought in new and familiar faces along the way, but we didn’t achieve our ambitions.”
At this point, it’s uncertain what lies ahead for both the players on the roster and Shopify’s involvement in the Game Changers circuit. Shopify believes that the players will find individual success and intends to support them in their endeavors.
TLO also mentioned that Shopify still plans to compete in Game Changers, although the specific direction the organization will take remains unclear.
( Shopify Rebellion, VALORANT, Game Changers, roster, free agents, esports)