"It's not worth it": zombs announces retirement from pro Valorant

Olivia Richman Published 25/11/2022

Jared “zombs” Gitlin has announced that he no longer plans to play Valorant competitively.

zombs had been on Sentinels’ bench since April 2022 after the team signed Eric “Kanpeki” Xu. Then, during the offseason, all 10 Valorant Champions Tour partner teams in North America announced their rosters for the upcoming season. Sentinels signed Gustavo “Sacy” Rossi, Bryan “pANcada” Luna, Rory “dephh” Jackson, and Hunter “SicK” Mims, leaving zombs on the bench.

It was speculated that zombs may move to a Challengers team. But zombs decided to quit competitive play altogether. He announced the shocking statement during a stream on November 24, leaving the Valorant community stunned.

zombs reveals future plans in Valorant

While streaming some Valorant games, zombs said that he was “owning everyone in scrims” the past few weeks, adding that he wasn’t scrimming anymore. This left some fans curious why he stopped practicing, but zombs quickly explained the situation.

According to zombs, a very outspoken player, a few teams were interested in signing him but he ended up flying to Los Angeles to meet with the Sentinels owner, which changed his plans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86Xw2Wu6-gE

“Now I never want to leave Sen. I am staying on Sen forever,” zombs revealed.

But he won’t be staying on as a competitive player. zombs admitted that it wasn’t worth it for him to compete again.

“I have opportunities that are better for the future,” zombs said.

It’s currently unclear what Sentinels has in mind for zombs, but many are speculating that he will become a full-time streamer or content creator.

zombs has been with Sentinels since “the beginning, when they had, like, zero followers.” The talented FPS player joined the organization in 2019 as an Apex Legends player after retiring from Overwatch. For a year, zombs dominated the Apex Legends scene but decided to switch to Valorant when the game was released.

During his time on the main roster, zombs led Sentinels to dominate the North American scene. The team also took the VCT 2021 Stage 2 Masters Reykjavik title. Unfortunately, Sentinels’ spot at the top didn’t last for much longer. The team didn’t even qualify for international events in 2022, leading to some major roster moves.

“Playing pro video games isn’t what everyone thinks it is. You’ve got to realize how impossible it is to have a full team of five people who are on the same page together. It’s like a one-in-a-million. Every team has too many problems all the time. Most of the time, you don’t even get paid to the point where it’s worth spending years of your life grinding,” zombs admitted.

“Esports is like the wild west. Everyone is f—ing everyone over,” he added.

Fans will have to wait and see what zombs has planned next in his gaming career.

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

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