That is a bold move, Cotton. Official details below.
LOS ANGELES (June 4, 2020) – 100 Thieves has announced its entrance into competitive Valorant esports, Riot Games’ highly anticipated first-person shooter. The 100 Thieves Valorant team will be captained by Hiko, a former professional CS:GO player who has been a professional esports athlete for over 10 years. Hiko previously played for teams such as Cloud9 and Team Liquid. In addition to being a professional Valorant player, Hiko is one of the top 5 most watched Valorant streamers on Twitch as of June 2020.
“Riot Games has built one of the most successful and popular esports titles of all time with League of Legends, so when I heard they were entering into the FPS genre, I knew we had to be a part of it,” said Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag, Founder & CEO of 100 Thieves. “I’m incredibly excited to have Hiko and his vast esports experience on 100 Thieves as the first building block of our competitive Valorant team.”
“100 Thieves has always been an organization that I’ve looked up to. After talking to their management, their goals and my goals align almost to a T, which is not something I’m used to when it comes to org relationships,” said Spencer “Hiko” Martin. “My goal throughout my entire competitive career — every team, every roster move, every decision I’ve made — is to win. I want 100 Thieves to be the best team in the world.”
Valorant is the first major follow up from Riot Games after League of Legends, the most successful esports video game in history. In Valorant’s first week of beta launch, the game hit record-breaking numbers on Twitch with total concurrent viewers peaking at 1.7 million, the second highest viewership all-time behind only the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. Based on its early popularity, Valorant is poised to be the next billion-dollar gaming franchise.
100 Thieves was early to recognize Valorant’s potential as a major title in competitive gaming, hosting the 100 Thieves Valorant Invitational on April 22, with 8 teams captained by some of the biggest creators and FPS professionals in the world, including Nadeshot, Ninja, Shroud, Summit1G, and Courage. Hosted by Goldenboy and Rivington with over seven hours of coverage, the tournament averaged 400,000 viewers and over 3 million total hours watched across Twitch, YouTube, and Mixer.
The Valorant team will be 100 Thieves’ fourth competitive team, joining their leading esports teams competing in League of Legends, Fortnite, and Counter-Strike.
More details on 100 Thieves’ full Valorant roster will be released at a later date.
