Global Esports have shut down their competitive teams and released their entire Valorant roster. Founder Rushindra Sinha says the organisation will continue as GE Studios, an AI company, at the end of the best season in its history.
Global Esports are leaving esports. Founder and CEO Rushindra Sinha announced on Monday that the Indian organisation is closing its team operations and releasing all of its Valorant players and staff, as the new VCT partnership cycle begins without them.
“This marks the official last day of Global Esports as a competitive roster,” Sinha said in a farewell video posted on X.
A decision made a year ago
According to Sinha, the exit was planned long before the 2026 season was over. When Riot Games contacted the organisation about the new partnership structure last November, Global Esports gave a clear answer.
Last November, when the entire partnership structure was changing, when Riot reached out to us and asked us about our future, we told them that 2026 was more than likely going to be our last year in esports.
Sinha said that someone at Riot then asked him what would happen if the team had a great season and reached Masters and Champions. Global Esports did both, and won a regional title along the way.
He said the organisation tried to keep the roster together, but that the new rules made it hard to justify. In the video, he explained that running an entire organisation to keep one roster together “did not make sense, because even if one player left, the entire thing would crumble”. The VCT is moving to eight partner teams per region from 2027, down from ten, and Global Esports are not among the Pacific organisations that have announced a seat.
The best year in the club’s history
The timing makes the decision stand out. 2026 was the first year Global Esports reached the international stage in Valorant, and it ended with a trophy.
- Pacific Kickoff: out in the lower bracket against Paper Rex
- Pacific Stage 1: third place after a 3-0 defeat to Paper Rex in the lower final
- Masters London: the club’s first international event, out in the Swiss stage with one win from three series
- Esports World Cup: out in the group stage after defeats to MIBR and All Gamers
- Pacific Stage 2: champions, after a 3-2 win over Nongshim RedForce in the grand final
- Champions Shanghai: out in the group stage with a 2-0 win over EDward Gaming and defeats to Team Vitality and LOUD, the two teams that later met in the final
The Stage 2 title came the hard way. Global Esports lost the upper final to Nongshim RedForce, beat T1 3-1 in the lower final and then met Nongshim RedForce again in the grand final on September 6. They lost the first two maps, 11-13 on Sunset and 2-13 on Split, and then won the next three.
Global Esports3-2
Nongshim RedForcePacific Stage 2 grand final: Sunset 11-13, Split 2-13, Abyss 13-10, Lotus 13-5, Haven 13-10Six weeks later, neither finalist has a partner seat for 2027. Nongshim RedForce, who also won Masters Santiago in March, were not selected and will try to qualify through the open circuit.
The released roster
Sinha said all players are free to look for new teams and that “a lot of them have already been getting offers”. No moves have been reported yet. The final Global Esports roster was:
xavi8k (Xavier Juan)- PatMen (Patrick Mendoza)
UdoTan (Go Kyung-won)
Kr1stal (Savva Fedorov)
Autumn (Kale Dunne)
Platoon (Daniel Zhou), head coach
Assistant coach Aimix Strange, analyst Fields, manager Vatsal and staff member taeri have also been released. Over the years, the organisation has had a reputation for finding talent, and players such as t3xture and Monyet have worn the Global Esports shirt.
From esports to GE Studios
Global Esports were founded in India and have been a VCT Pacific partner since the league system started in 2023. Sinha said the organisation will now continue as GE Studios. “Everything we’ve done in the last decade is now going to be powered and amplified with AI,” he said, without giving more details about what the company will make.
“We are ending our esports chapter just so that we can pave the way for a brand new chapter,” Sinha said.
Global Esports are one of several big names to leave the partner system this week. Cloud9, NAVI, FURIA and Nongshim RedForce were all left out of the VCT partnership for 2027 and 2028.
