Team Secret CEO Bares Truth on Departure of 3 LoL Pros

Team Secret has just surprised all their fans by deciding to part ways with three players after the VCS Summer 2021 was postponed. Many rumors have been raised around this announcement. Recently, HYPRGAME had an exclusive interview with Team Secret’s CEO John Yao to explain the pros’ departure.

HYPRGAME: Artifact and Slayder are both capable players, and can be considered as superstars of Team Secret. Why did Team Secret liquidate their contract? Many rumors suggested that the postponement of VCS Summer 2021 to partially cause Secret to have financial difficulties. They said it led to this decision, is this true? Or is it due to personal reasons from the players (contract expiration)?

JOHN YAO: It’s sad to see Artifact and Slayder leave Team Secret. They are both wonderful people, and very skilled players. Under normal circumstances we would have done everything we could to keep them with Team Secret. But with VCS Summer cancelled and the pandemic situation making the future very unclear, we thought it was best to let them explore other opportunities since we could not make a huge commitment ourselves at this time.

This was not a purely financial decision, it was a commitment decision. We have the financial strength to continue investing in Vietnam and in League of Legends. But it’s difficult to make any long term commitments with the future so uncertain.

Interview with Team Secret CEO John Yao

HYPRGAME: So after the end of the contract with those players, does Team Secret plan to add any new personnel?

JOHN YAO: We will take this time to develop our younger talent, to scout more potential talent in VCS to bring on to our team, and come back stronger when the future of VCS is more clear. We will spend what is necessary in the free agent market to build a championship team, when the time is right.”

It can be seen that the termination of the contract with three players H3, Slayder and Artifact has nothing to do with the financial problems of Team Secret. VCS summer has been cancelled, there has been no announcement or commitment from Garena or Riot about future seasons. And VCS has been unable to attend Worlds for two years now with no indication that next year will be any different. It’s tough for anyone to invest and make long term commitments under the circumstances as well as Team Secret.

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