Evil Geniuses and Global Esports Close; Barça Quits League of Legends

Three organizations announced this week that they are leaving competition, in whole or in part. Global Esports said on October 19 that it is exiting Valorant and esports, according to Strafe. Evil Geniuses said on Tuesday, October 20, that it will stop competing and running day-to-day operations on November 2, 2026, according to Field Level Media. The same day, Barça Esports said that 2026 would be its last season in League of Legends, Strafe reported.

The announcements followed Riot Games' confirmation of its partner organizations for Valorant's 2027 and 2028 seasons, which was reported on October 19. Evil Geniuses, Global Esports and Barça Esports are all absent from that list. Global Esports said its decision was taken about a year earlier, and the Evil Geniuses statement gave cost and sponsorship as its reasons without mentioning Riot's list.

Field Level Media and Strafe on the closures, October 19 to 21, 2026; Strafe and Esports Charts on Riot's partner list.

What Evil Geniuses announced

Evil Geniuses said on Tuesday night that it will cease competitive and day-to-day operations on November 2, 2026. Chief executive Chris DeAppolonio pointed in the statement to limited sponsorship and the rising cost of competing at the top level, and described the closure as an orderly wind-down, according to Strafe and GosuGamers.

For the people on its rosters, the practical effect is immediate. The organization said all players are free to speak with other organizations right away. Its Valorant players and coaches may sign elsewhere once the Valorant season ends on November 2.

The statement does not link the closure to Riot's partner selection. Strafe noted in its coverage on October 21 that Riot was cutting the number of partners in each international league from ten to eight for 2027, and that Evil Geniuses was not among the organizations in the partner roundup.

A long record, and a narrowing footprint

Evil Geniuses began in 1999. Field Level Media described it as Seattle-based, and GosuGamers wrote that it started as a Quake clan in Canada. Over more than two decades it won titles in several games.

The 2015 win at The International came in a 3-1 final against CDEC Gaming, according to Strafe, and GosuGamers put the prize at about US$6.6 million. Strafe reported that the LCS Spring title in 2022 was a 3-0 final against 100 Thieves and that the Valorant Champions win in 2023 was a 3-1 final against Paper Rex. GosuGamers described Evil Geniuses as the first North American organization to win that event.

The footprint had been shrinking before this week. Evil Geniuses left Counter-Strike in January 2024, according to Strafe. In 2026 it fielded only Valorant, Pokémon UNITE and 2XKO, according to GosuGamers.

What Barça Esports announced

Barça Esports said on Tuesday, October 20, that 2026 would be its last League of Legends season, according to Strafe. The team has competed since December 2021, which is five years. It joined Spain's top competition in 2022 and finished third in the Spring Split that year before going on to the European Masters.

Its results since then are as follows. In 2024 it was the runner-up in the Superliga Summer. In 2025 it reached the EMEA Masters Spring final and lost 3-0 to Los Ratones. In 2026 it was second at the LES Kick-off, fourth in the Spring Split, third in the Summer Split and fourth in the Final Four, and it qualified for both the Winter and the Summer editions of the EMEA Masters.

Strafe also reported, citing Sheep Esports, that Barça Esports had applied for a Valorant EMEA partnership slot for the 2027 and 2028 seasons and was not selected. Sheep Esports had reported on October 19 that Barça Esports would leave the Spanish league after missing out on the Valorant partnership, the day before the club's own announcement.

Barça Esports keeps Valorant

The organization is not leaving competitive play. It has fielded a Valorant team since 2024 and said it will keep that team and its Game Changers project.

Without a partnership slot, Barça Esports' Valorant team aims to reach the European league through open qualifiers that begin in November 2026, according to Strafe. The organization said Valorant roster announcements will come within weeks.

Global Esports leaves Valorant and esports

Global Esports announced on October 19 that it is leaving Valorant and esports after nearly a decade, according to Strafe. Its Valorant roster has disbanded and the players are free agents, and some reportedly have offers. Founder and chief executive Rushindra Sinha said the decision was made about a year ago: when Riot asked about its plans in November 2025, he told Riot that 2026 was more than likely to be the organization's last year in esports.

Its roster won VCT Pacific Stage 2 in 2026, according to Strafe, and Insider Gaming noted that it competed at Valorant Champions 2026. The organization is now GE Studios, a studio focused on artificial intelligence. Strafe described Global Esports as the only partnered Valorant team in India and South Asia, and said a replacement seems unlikely because partner places in the Pacific are capped at eight. Strafe added that Valorant's 2027 season moves from a league structure to a tournament format, which opens chances for teams without a partner place, but with limited slots, so regional teams will compete with the rest of Asia and Oceania.

Riot's 2027 partner list

Riot confirmed partner status to organizations beginning on October 19, according to The Spike, which counted 32 partners, eight in each region. Partner status gives selected organizations a guaranteed place at Kickoff, the season-opening event. Esports Charts noted that it does not guarantee entry to later Cups, Masters or Champions.

Esports Charts marked Weibo Gaming and Xi Lai Gaming in China, and Crazy Raccoon and GAM Esports in the Pacific, as new to the program. The Spike said EMEA had no new faces. Absent from the list are Cloud9, Evil Geniuses and FURIA in the Americas, NAVI, Movistar KOI and GIANTX in EMEA, DRX, Global Esports and Team Secret in the Pacific, and FunPlus Phoenix in China. China drops from ten partners to eight, according to The Spike.

The new entries have different backgrounds, according to The Spike. GAM Esports is making its Valorant debut, Crazy Raccoon is back after leaving the ecosystem in 2021, and Weibo Gaming returns after re-entering Valorant earlier this year. The outlet said Riot used a new evaluation system, with factors that included an organization's existing presence in the ecosystem, the size of its fanbase and its historical success in League of Legends. It added that competition for places in the Americas was intense.

More than 100 organizations expressed interest, according to Esports Charts. Its list of Riot's criteria was community development, fandom and content, business sustainability, operational infrastructure and competitive performance, and it said partnerships run in renewable two-year cycles.

What partners get and what open teams face

According to Sheep Esports, which reported the list of teams not selected on October 19, partner status guarantees a place at the region's Kickoff tournament, which runs from January 14 to February 7. Partners skip the opening open-qualifier rounds, and they keep a base payment and the revenue from their in-game team capsules, the items that fans buy to support a team.

The Americas list of organizations not selected, as reported by Sheep Esports, names Shopify Rebellion, Cloud9, LYON, FlyQuest, ENVY and M80. LYON is in the League of Legends World Championship Swiss Stage, which begins on October 23, while Cloud9 is not among its 16 teams, according to Strafe. Insider Gaming described the Valorant circuit as becoming an open one, built around Cups and open qualifiers.

For teams without a place, the Cups are the only route to international events, according to Sheep Esports. The first runs from April 29 to May 23, and the second from August 5 to 29. Riot has confirmed support packages of US$100,000 or more for teams that come through the open qualifiers in EMEA, Insider Gaming reported. Cloud9, Barça Esports, NS RedForce, ENVY and DRX are committed to the open qualifiers, the same outlet said.

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