The professional competitive Valorant scene has had its fair share of soaring highs and depressing lows, and despite being one of the fastest-growing esports in the gaming landscape, fans have started to call for the replacement of the current head of Valorant Esports, Leo Faria.
A fan-made petition has started to gain momentum on Twitter, and the conversation regarding Valorant's head of esports decision-making has continuously swayed into the negative.
Following a series of tweets regarding the present state of the game ahead of the 2024 Valorant Champions Tour, Leo Faria explained that they're "expanding the calendar next year to space things out and shorten the off-season. But we like the baseline number of matches each team currently play, and we’re not looking to increase that." However, this has caused the community to push back against his contradictions.
Despite community backlash, he has most recently revealed that he and the rest of the Esports team will be taking even more time away from the partnered league teams. This will likely result in these professional players enduring a 6-month off-season after potentially only 13 games during the 2024 competitive season, and many fans have claimed that this is simply not enough.
The players, coaches, and fans of professional Valorant want more, and so it's a kick in the teeth when the schedule remains so disastrously out of touch. Playing only five matches each split is simply not enough time for teams to find a groove or momentum, and if that had been the case in 2023's circuit, the likes of NRG and EG wouldn't have even qualified.
NRG is a prime example as to why this new schedule will undoubtedly hinder professional progress, because they had a fairly rocky start to their 2023 Champions Tour, but later began to shine once they'd built enough steam. It's for reasons such as this that so many are crying out for Leo Faria to be removed as the chief decision-maker.
But despite such an obvious backlash, the 2024 VCT is due to kick off in the Americas on this contentious schedule, on February 16, 2024.
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