Former Cloud9 and T1 Esports Valorant player Son ‘xeta’ Seon-ho has announced his retirement from competitive gaming, saying the decision is connected to health and stress issues.
xeta was a veteran of the FPS esports genre, competing in CS:GO and eventually Valorant for almost 8 years. The South Korean player competed on top Asian rosters like MVP PK and TYLOO in Counter-Strike before hopping into Valorant esports on Cloud9 Korea in 2020.
Later, he played for Cloud9 in North America, attending Valorant Champions 2021 with the team. xeta was also a part of one of the first trades in Valorant esports as C9 swapped him and coach Yoon ‘Autumn’ Eu-ddeum for Rahul ‘curry’ Nemani from T1.
xeta then signed on to play for T1 through 2024 of the VCT international league era. However, the player announced on February 15, 2024 that he was retiring from professional competition. He said that the decision was made because of his “mental and body health.”
Former T1 & Cloud9 player xeta retires from pro Valorant
xeta announced his retirement just two days before the start of the VCT Pacific Kickoff tournament. T1 brought in a slew of new players this off-season, signing a total of six roster spots, and xeta was expected by fans to be involved with the roster in some way.
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The player said that he could tell he did not have the same energy as he once did and has been playing professionally for eight years straight.
ENGToday i would like to announce that i’ve decided to step down from active roster and retire as a player, well i don’t know where to start and how to end my writting because there are lots of words to say in my mind 🙂
So first of all i’ve been played for 8 years straight…
— xeta (@OfficialXETA) February 15, 2024
“Recently I also realized my mental and body health is not like before when I started even though with the help of the org I could get to talk to a sports psychologist for help. I felt it went so deep already now to go back to recover and I’ve been recently started to have stacked stress,” xeta said on social media.
He also said T1 was understanding of the decision and allowed him to step down from the roster. xeta will now go and start his mandatory military service in the South Korean army.
xeta did not close the door on esports forever, saying that he hopes to return to the space with a “refreshed mindset and energy and passion.”