FNATIC won't pick up VALORANT roster till Q4 2020 or 2021

Every organization is taking a unique approach when it comes to joining the VALORANT competitive scene. We have seen G2 Esports join it early, with CEO Carlos “ocelote” Rodriguez explaining his vision behind investing into VALORANT early. While on the other hand, we saw Team Vitality’s CEO, Nicolas Maurer, discuss his decision process and why he is waiting to join until he feels it is the right time. Well, looks like FNATIC’s management agrees with Maurer more than Rodriguez when it comes to picking up a VALORANT roster to play under the organization.

FNATIC’s Senior Team Director, Colin “Cojo” Johnson, was recently featured in an interview with GGRecon, where he answered several questions on the current state of the European VALORANT scene, what is in the horizon for the organization in Riot Games’ tactical shooter’s competitive realm, and his thoughts on what forces some teams to disband.

However, one of the more interesting answers was given to when we are going to see a VALORANT roster competing officially under FNATIC’s historical name. The organization’s management definitely have their eyes on the game’s competitive scene, and will eventually join it, but not anytime soon for those waiting. According to Cojo, they are aiming for an announcement either towards the end of 2020 or the start of 2021, and the latter seems more likely.

He attributed the wait to FNATIC wanting to make sure they have a solid opportunity with the roster they are signing and it is worth the investment and effort being put into building a winning roster. It makes sense to see the organization holding off, considering how much their name is always attributed to powerhouses in almost every game they are part of, with League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Rainbow Six Siege. Not only that, FNATIC probably learned from their early investment into EA’s battle royale, Apex Legends, which didn’t quite have the competitive scene everyone hoped for.

“I think we've always taken a bit more of a careful and considered approach, I would say Q4 is probably the earliest you could expect Fnatic to be seen with a team in VALORANT. It's more likely to be in 2021 than 2020, but if we find the right combination of players, if we feel really good about an opportunity and we really believe that it's worth the investment we'll take the shot on it.

But at the moment I don't think that we've really had that "aha" moment or that group of a few guys that we really feel like we want to invest a lot in right now. And that's not to say I haven't spoken to some fantastic players and that we haven't seriously thought about investing. But it's just a case where at the moment, we're considering a lot of different investments in entering other new titles potentially.” stated Cojo.

He continued to mention they are already in talks with around “70 players within Europe,” a region which offers a deep talent pool to choose from, so we are guaranteed to eventually see a household name or two in their roster when it is revealed to the world.

Who do you think we will see join FNATIC eventually? Is it better to start judging the VALORANT competitive ecosystem starting early next year when all the major organizations pick up their rosters? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below!