autimatic considers Valorant as Gen.G CSGO roster is up for sale

Gen.G’s veteran Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player Timothy “autimatic” Ta announced that he is considering making a move from CSGO to Valorant, according to tweets from his official Twitter account. The tweet followed comments made to RushBMedia from Gen.G that it was open to offers for autimatic, Kenneth “koosta” Suen, and Hansel “BnTeT” Ferdinand.

In a Twitter thread from December 15, autimatic announced that Gen.G has allowed the him to seek other opportunities after two of his teammates left the organizaton’s CSGO roster to compete in Valorant. Gen.G’s former in-game leader Damian “daps” Steele left for Valorant in October along with promising rifler Sam “s0m” Oh. The two now compete on NRG’s Valorant roster.

s0m was one of CSGO’s most promising young talents before Riot Games’ new tactical shooter lured him away. After the move, Gen.G was left short-handed and forced to use two stand-ins for FLASHPOINT’s second season. Former Ninjas in Pyjamas player Richard “⁠Xizt⁠” Landström and current North rifler Rasmus “⁠kreaz⁠” Johansson filled in for the tournament, but Gen.G dropped out the franchised league in ninth place.

Gen.G open to CSGO roster offers, autimatic weighs Valorant switch

In what might be a glimpse into the future for some CSGO rosters, Gen.G told RushBMedia that CSGO’s current condition has it hesitant to continue into 2021.

“We want them to see any offers as we go in to 2021. We recognize that it has been a challenging period for professional CS, and we’re looking at how the scene develops into 2021. In the meantime, we wanted to make sure to minimize the impact on players, so we have allowed them to keep their options open while still under contract with us,” a Gen.G representative said.

While the statement reads as though Gen.G might maintain a presence in CSGO, Gen.G went on to say that the organization would wave the cost of a buyout if one of its players asked for a transfer. The organization payed a reported $2 million for a spot in FLASHPOINT’s franchised league less than a year ago. 

While autimatic’s tweets made it clear that he would prefer to stay in CSGO, they also left open the door for a switch to Valorant. After winning ELEAGUE Boston’s CSGO Major with Cloud9, Gen.G purchased what was left of C9’s CSGO roster in 2019. The team made strides early in 2020, winning DreamHack Open Anaheim and CS Summit 6 before the team stalled out following CSGO’s player break. To add fuel to the fire, Gen.G’s current head coach also tweeted a statement that he was open to CSGO offers, casting doubt on Gen.G’s statement that it wasn’t exiting the scene entirely.

CSGO has had a rough several months, starting with a widespread coaching scandal that led to 37 coaches being banned from major competition circuits in September. Since then, questions have been raised about the upper levels of CSGO competition, with one veteran reporter claiming that cheating and stream sniping would have barred many top teams from competition without the intervention of tournament organizers. Gen.G’s apparent exit is the latest in the saga as things start to look uncomfortable for CSGO’s position at the top of the esports pack.