AverageJonas has announced he’s quitting the Valorant scene permanently, citing several reasons such as burnout, and explaining that he’ll be jumping over to Valve’s MOBA shooter Deadlock instead.
Valorant content creator AverageJonas has been a well-known face within the community for quite some time now. Known for his love of Sova lineups, his operatic singing voice, and his penchant for buying every skin in the game, he’s garnered the respect of Valorant players all over.
However, like all good things, AverageJonas’ time in Valorant has come to an end, with the streamer listing several reasons for his departure in an August 25 announcement video.
Jonas explained that despite leaving, he still loves Valorant and he loves the opportunities he was given by playing the game. From losing his job as an opera singer to starting up his career as a streamer, building a community filled to the brim with line-up nerds.
However, he admitted the love has come at a cost, as the streamer stated they’ve felt burnt out after playing and streaming the same game consistently for the past four years. This combined with various health issues has taken a toll.
Similarly, Jonas’ love for theory crafting has also meant that Valorant’s genre has somewhat limited his ability to do so, especially after Sova’s many nerfs.
“I think I realized that if I want to do this for many years, I have got to focus on what makes me happy… Here’s the thing, I haven’t really felt happy in a while when streaming Valorant, which is why I started doing more variety.”
The streamer’s choice to dive into other titles outside of Valorant, like DOTA and Palworld, reinvigorated their love for gaming in the process, they explained.
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“Those two games were the first time I felt the same way I felt when I just started streaming four and a half years ago. And I realized how important it is to listen to those kind of feelings because I don’t want you guys to just watch a sad streamer. I do really think my content is a lot better if I am happy while I am doing it.”
I never thought I’d see the day where I can play 2 COMPLETELY different games and still have similar success/viewership/fun in both. Honestly so happy and motivated to make more Palworld and Valorant content! PALORANT GAMER
— AverageJonas 🇳🇴 (@Average_Jonas) February 24, 2024
This was the perfect opportunity for Jonas, as they were just invited to Valve’s private playtest of Deadlock. As a MOBA shooter, the game combines several aspects of shooters like Overwatch with the nitty gritty stats of games like League of Legends and DOTA.
“The more I play this game, the more I realize that this kind of sums up everything I want in a game that I want to make content in. It feels like an endless depth in stuff I can dive into, teach people, theory craft, and have fun with. It really reignited that feeling I had when I started streaming.”
Finally I can post clips of my new favorite game! Been grinding Deadlock for a month and this game is the fkin future pic.twitter.com/KrK8TnVYXD
— AverageJonas 🇳🇴 (@Average_Jonas) August 24, 2024
And with that, Jonas announced he would be completely quitting Valorant on the whole, no longer pursuing content creation or casting opportunities.
“I do understand that some of you will probably not like this decision, and I completely understand if you don’t want to follow my journey here forward. I still appreciate that you’ve been around and watched all of my stuff for all these years, and I hope you guys understand that I also have to do this for myself so that I stay happy.”
The streamer reminisced about his time spent in Valorant. Teary-eyed, he left off by commemorating all his time spent practicing in the FPS.
“I’ll always remember the years of the Sova main who practiced daily in a custom game. Thank you very much.”