Riot Games has announced that it has terminated its partnership with Movistar KOI, leaving Valorant fans waiting to see which team will be selected as a replacement for VCT EMEA.
Movistar KOI is an esports organization with teams across various esports disciplines, including Valorant. Riot Games has also partnered with MKOI for the team’s participation in VCT EMEA and in other official Valorant tournaments.
KOI has become infamous for not being able to perform up to the mark in VCT, and it looks like the team’s lack of success may have led to a major consequence as Riot announces that the organizationis officially out of the VCT EMEA, with the duo’s partnership coming to an end in Valorant.
Riot Games cited “breach of contractual agreement” as the reason for terminating its partnership wiht Movistar KOIand removing the team from VCT EMEA.
The developer and publisher didn’t provide explicit details regarding exactly which contract agreement MKOI had breached, but did state that the team would be replaced in VCT EMEA, with teams and organizations currently being evaluated before a suitable replacement is announced.
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Movistar KOI players will become free agents at the end of the ongoing VCT season, and Riot has made an exception due to this unusual circumstance and extended the VCT transfer window. The players have until the VCT transfer window reopens again later to be signed by a team and have a chance to compete.
Riot also clarified that this decision is exclusively meant for VCT EMEA, and Movistar KOI is free to participate in other esports, leagues, and competitions in which Riot is involved. MKOI most notably fields one of the top teams in European League of Legends, competing in the LEC and standing as the reigning LEC champion. And Movistar KOI Fénix will still be able to participate in Challengers EMEA Spain: Rising.
Movistar KOI co-founder Ibai Llanos claims that MKOI was removed because of its poor performance in VCT competitions and low skin sales.
Ibai discussed why Riot had decided to cut ties with Movistar KOI, revealing that the decision was apparently a combination of both financial and in-game failures. The team has consistently been underperforming in VCT and has been unable to increase its performance sufficiently to satisfy decision-makers.
Ibai also claimed that Movistar KOI was ranked last in terms of branded skin sales, a finanical measure of a team’s popularity. KOI had apparently signed a new coach before Riot informed the team about its decision to end the partnership and its removal from VCT EMEA, but that’s now all for naught.
Fans and other Valorant pro players are questioning MKOI’s response as they believe Riot wouldn’t remove a team with less than a day’s notice just for insufficient performance in-game and low skin sales. Some are even speculating that it must have been something big, given Riot claiming Movistar KOI “breached contract” and the team’s apparently sudden removal that followed.
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