Former Valorant World Champion retires after disappointing end to 2023

Former Valorant World Champion and member of Acend BONECOLD has announced his retirement from competitive play.

Acend was the first team to lift the Valorant Champions trophy in 2021, assisted by BONECOLD who was their in-game leader at the time.

After a lack of success from Acend following their championship win, the members of Acend went their separate ways with BONECOLD landing on Team Vitality, whom he spent the last two years with.

Unlike his time on Acend, BONECOLD’s performance on Team Vitality was less than spectacular throughout 2022 and 2023. The team finished at the bottom at the Sao Paulo kickoff event and finished the VCT EMEA league 5/6th without making it to another international event.

Now, BONECOLD has opted to retire before the start of the 2024 season after not being rumored to join another team.

BONECOLD “happily” announces his Valorant retirement

BONECOLD announced his retirement via Twitter/X by posting a video detailing his experience and what will be next for him.

“Today, I will be happily announcing my retirement from Valorant esports,” said BONECOLD. “After my successful last three years that I have had in this game, I feel like my motivation and my focus should be something else.”

While he said that he would focus on something else in the future, BONECOLD did not specify what exactly he would be doing now that he is not competing in Valorant professionally. However, he did take to Twitch after the video was posted to do a Q&A with fans about his experience in the scene.

There was an outpour of support from the Valorant community underneath BONECOLD’s post regarding his retirement. Multiple casters and analysts took the time to congratulate him on his success and wish him the best going forward.

“The ‘you’re officially the best IGL in the world now’ discussion we had after the Champs finals still makes me laugh,” said analyst Ryan Central. “All the best buddy, sending my love and excited to see where you go next!”

Team Vitality is still searching for a replacement for BONECOLD after he stepped away from the team at the beginning of this year.