Twitch streamer and Shopify Rebellion co-owner Ludwig Ahgren has launched a scathing attack on Riot Games after the VCT partnership announcements.
Riot reduced the number of VCT-partnered teams for 2027 and 2028 in preparation for Valorant’s new open circuit esports format.
After cutting down the number of each region’s partners to eight, Shopify Rebellion had its Riot-partnership application rejected.
Ludwig then went live onto his stream to blast Riot’s decision-making and claimed it may no longer be worth investing in Valorant.
Ludwig Says Shopify Rebellion May Pull Out of Valorant
Shopify Rebellion joined Valorant back in June 2022 and won the Game Changers Championship in both 2023 and 2024.
However, now Ludwig claims that the organisation is considering leaving Valorant altogether.
“I think that Shopify Rebellion should abandon Valorant completely, and I think Riot Games has f*cked us long enough, and I don’t know if I wanna pursue it anymore, because I see no reward for doing so.”
Ludwig then explained that the financial gulf between partnered and non-partnered teams will be too difficult to overcome.
“We have to compete to make it to any of these international or national events, against partner teams who all get millions of dollars of upfront capital and skin sales.
“And we have to create a roster competitive enough to compete against these squads, even though we don’t have the opportunity to offer players as competitive a salary and an opportunity.”
The streamer stated that big-money teams will poach Open Qualifier teams’ best talents, saying it already happened to Shopify with Brock ‘brawk’ Somerhalder and Adam ‘mada’ Pampuch leaving for NRG last year.
In another clip, Ludwig stated that he is considering moving into other esports instead:
“Why don’t you do a CS2 team instead? That’s the conversation I’m having… F*ck Shopify was loyal to Valorant for like four years now.
“There’s a lot of sh*t that Shopify has done for Valorant and I don’t know if it’s worth it, it doesn’t make sense anymore, it seems like a waste of time.”
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M80 Founder Backs Ludwig
Marco Mereu, founder and CEO of M80, another North American esports organisation, has backed Ludwig’s rant.
M80 were another team amongst the big names that missed out on being a VCT partnered team despite winning North America Challengers Stage 1 and Stage 2.
Mereu claims that supporting a roster of that level costs approximately $500k annually, including coaches’ wages and travel.
“For us to take this roster into the new ecosystem and compete, we would have to make EVERY Cup + at least ONE Masters event to just break EVEN on the investment into the game, Mereu explained.
“If we miss even 1 Cup, we are down six figures. If we miss a Masters, it’s an even bigger hole. Most teams cannot afford to take this risk for so little return. It’s financial suicide.”
“I got into esports because of Valorant. We launched M80 with a Valorant roster announcement. It breaks my heart to leave.”
Do you agree with Ludwig and Marco’s statement or are you excited for the open circuit? Share your thoughts with us on the Insider Gaming Discord.
Meanwhile, Riot announced financial packages for VCT EMEA Kickoff 2027 qualifier teams. And for even more Insider Gaming delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
An esports journalist for nine years with a focus on LoL Jack has written for national newspapers, interviewed major names, and driven people mad with puns. He's most proud of…
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