Sweetdreams announces he will not be competing in ALGS Year 5

Apex Legends veteran and iconic 'IGL' Sweetdreams has announced he is stepping away from ALGS competition ahead of Year 5. While this is not an official retirement, the former Luminosity, NRG and Rogue star says that continuing to compete is no longer "financially viable."

This news came as a huge shock to the ALGS scene. Sweetdreams is one of the games most iconic competitors, having competed on some of the top teams and held the games number 1 rank on several occasions.

There is some hope for fans of Sweetdreams, he went on to say that "I fully intend on making an impact this year but just need to explore some other options."

In a lengthy message in his community Discord, the 25-year-old outlined the thinking behind not competing. You can read the message in full below.

While there is a lot of detail to unpack, particularly interesting is his claim that the ALGS partnership programme is no more. The ALGS made a big announcement last year, advertising their Year 4 partnership programme. This was a big factor for several organisations returning to the game.

While subsequent claims about things like no Year 6 are unverified, this will cast some major doubt on the ALGS with such a big name stepping away for financial reasons. It should be noted that there is no indication the ALGS will end after Year 5. New changes like the ALGS Open are yet to be seen in action.

For Sweet to choose not to compete even with several offers on the table shows this was a decision not taken lightly.

While he never quite brought home a LAN win, should Sweetdreams never end up returning to competition he will still be remembered amongst the games greatest competitors. His iconic IGLing style brought him consistent success with a range of teams. From experienced to inexperienced teams, he always found a way to be in the mix in the biggest events.

NRG's performance at the ALGS Split 1 Playoffs in 2023 stands out as a major highlight. With then teammates Gild and Nafen, NRG were fearsome across the entire event. They dominated the Winners Bracket, dropping a massive 23 kills across the first two games.

While, as is often the case in Match Point lobbies, they couldn't close out the win. They did end finals with the most points, including an iconic 20 kill win. Sweetdreams was also part of the NRG team that finished 1st in the ALGS Winter Circuit Playoffs, the Rogue team that finished 1st in the GLL Masters Summer and most recently finished 7th at the ALGS Championship. Luminosity were just a single end-game away from winning the title.

While it looks like he will return, no matter what Sweetdreams has had a very impressive ALGS career. Stay tuned to esports.gg for full coverage of the ALGS, Rostermania, and all things Apex Legends.