Global Esports is leaving Valorant and esports for good. Founder and CEO Rushindra Sinha confirmed the decision. It ends GE’s place as a VCT Pacific partner team and releases the full roster to free agency.
The timing makes it a shock. GE won its first VCT trophy at Pacific Stage 2 in September 2026 and played at Valorant Champions in Shanghai only weeks ago. The brand now moves on as GE Studios, a new venture built around artificial intelligence.
Global Esports Valorant Exit: What Was Announced
Sinha called it “the official last day of Global Esports as a competitive roster,”. The players can now talk to other teams.
He also said the decision wasn’t sudden. When Riot asked partner teams about their future plans in November 2025, GE told Riot that 2026 would likely be its final year in esports.
| Detail | What we know |
|---|---|
| Decision | Global Esports exits Valorant and all of esports |
| Announced by | Founder and CEO Rushindra Sinha |
| Roster status | Released as free agents |
| What comes next | GE Studios, an AI-focused venture |
| VCT Pacific partner slot | Not confirmed by Riot yet |
Why Global Esports Walked Away From Its VCT Partnership
The main reason is Riot’s new partnership deal for 2027. Sinha said that keeping the roster under the new terms would have meant running a whole organization around one team, and he didn’t think that made sense.
He also didn’t want to stand in the way of the players’ futures. “Even if one player left, the entire thing would crumble,” he said.
That fits the wider changes coming to VCT. Riot is cutting partner teams from 10 to 8 per region and switching to an open, tournament-based season, as laid out in its official VCT 2027 explainer.
How VCT 2027 Changes Things for Partner Teams
From 2027, partner status only guarantees a team a spot at Kickoff. Each Pacific, Americas and EMEA Kickoff will have 12 teams: 8 partners and 4 from Open Qualifiers.
After that, results decide everything. Partners that do badly at a Cup or at Masters drop into Open Playoffs, the same as any other team.
| VCT feature | Up to 2026 | From 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Partner teams per region | 10 | 8 |
| Season format | League play | Tournaments and Cups |
| Partner guarantee | Full league season | Kickoff entry only |
| Non-partner payouts | Not offered | $100K Kickoff or Cup, $200K Masters, $400K Champions |
For a team that just won a title, that’s a hard business case. The stability that partner status used to give is now much smaller.
Global Esports’ Breakthrough 2026 Season
GE’s last season was its best. The team came back from 0-2 down to beat Nongshim RedForce 3-2 in the VCT Pacific Stage 2 grand final in Busan, which was the organization’s first VCT trophy.
That win made GE Pacific’s top seed at Champions. Its run in Shanghai ended in Group B: a 1-2 loss to Team Vitality, a 2-0 win over EDward Gaming, then a 0-2 loss to LOUD in the decider.
Being the first Indian-owned team to win a VCT Pacific title made the run stand out. It also makes the exit feel sudden to fans who were expecting GE to build on it.
Global Esports Free Agents: Who Is on the Market
Every player and staff member is now free to sign elsewhere. After a title-winning year, several of them should get interest quickly.
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Xavier “xavi8k” Juan | Player |
| Patrick “PatMen” Mendoza | Player |
| Go “UdoTan” Kyung-won | Player |
| Savva “Kr1stal” Fedorov | Player |
| Kale “Autumn” Dunne | Player |
| Daniel “Platoon” Zhou | Head coach |
| Derren “Aimix” dela Cruz | Assistant coach |
| Sam “Fields” Greenfield | Analyst |
| Vatsal Uniyal | Manager |
A team that keeps at least three of its five players keeps its points under the 2027 rules. So if part of this roster stays together under a new organization, it could keep some of its standing.
What Happens to Global Esports’ VCT Pacific Slot
This part is still open. Riot has named its 2027 to 2028 partners for Americas, EMEA and China, but no Pacific list has been confirmed in the reports checked for this article. Sheep Esports’ partner tracker still has the Pacific section blank.
With only eight Pacific slots and GE leaving, the region will look different in 2027. We’ll update this story when Riot announces the Pacific partners.
What Is GE Studios?
GE Studios is the organization’s next project. Sinha said it will use AI to build on what GE has done over the past decade.
No launch date, products or team structure have been shared. Sinha has been documenting AI projects on his personal site, which hints at where the company is heading.
A Look Back at Global Esports in Valorant
GE was founded in India in 2017 and entered Valorant in October 2020 by signing the “God Squad” roster, according to Liquipedia. It joined VCT Pacific as a partner team in 2023 and became the main face of Indian Valorant on the international stage.
It took the team four seasons to win a trophy. Then it won one and left.
