BOBO to disband after rDeew and pl1xx depart

BOBO, a VALORANT team currently participating in the VCL Oceania Split 1, has announced they are disbanding. This comes as a result of two of the players departing the organization.

Ethan "Crunchy" Laker, one of the remaining players on the roster, announced that the team was disbanding after the departures of Chris "pl1xx" Li and Riley "rDeeW" Wilkinson in a tweet today.

Crunchy elaborated that pl1xx is leaving the organization as he will be joining a new organization. As for rDeeW, he posted a twitlonger stating that he's taking a step back from competing due to health issues. Crunchy further stated that both himself and his teammate Noah 'Nozz' McClafferty were looking for a team together and are open to relocate to APAC, NA, or EU.

The team will continue competing in the Split with some emergency subs. BOBO currently has a perfect 4-0 record in the split and stands on top of the leaderboard after victories over teams like Honey Badgers and Built for Greatness.

BOBO's rDeew gained international fame when he represented Oceania as part of Bonkers in VCT APAC Challengers: Stage 1 in 2022. His phenomenal performance saw him being signed by ORDER, the then-top team in the region. rDeeW joined BOBO after ORDER disbanded and the team won the Dreamhack Showdown for VALORANT Oceania and came second in the ESL Clash of Nations OCE. As for pl1xx, he played in the North American region during 2021 as a part of Soniqs. He returned in 2022 to OCE and was a part of BOBO from Nov. 2022.

Over the last few months, the Oceania VALORANT scene has taken several hits. The most resounding crash was ORDER, the region's best-rated team disbanding after the team ran out of funding. The lack of organizations willing to invest and the lower number of events happening over the course of VALORANT's history compared to other regions are contributing to the issues. In fact, in the Pacific league, only one player, Michael "WRONSKI" Wronski, has been signed by a partnered team.

Only time will tell what this means for the VALORANT scene in the region.