Valorant Figurehead Sean Gares moving away from broadcasting

Valorant color analyst Sean Gares will be moving away from broadcasting and into the competitive side of the game, according to his Twitter account.

The beloved caster has been a mainstay in the scene since switching over from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. His partnership with play-by-play announcer Daniel "ddk" Kapadia has been the voice of many of Valorant's most memorable games and plays. The decision to leave Gares off the talent list for Stage 1 and his subsequent decision to pursue other opportunities outside casting leaves a massive void in the scene.

Fortunately, it doesn't sound as if he's leaving the scene entirely. As soon as the news broke of his departure, many of the top tier North American teams started lining up to acquire his services. The former CS in-game leader is the perfect candidate to helm a roster needing more structure and strategies.

The first organization to focus on is undoubtedly Sentinels. A team that has attempted to bring on Gares as head coach in the past. Moreover, Gares has a long history of working with Sentinels players.

For one, Shahzeb "ShahZaM" Khan and Gares played together on multiple CS teams. In fact, Gares often shoehorned ShahZaM into his rosters and there's a sense of mutual respect between the two. He's also worked with Tyson "TenZ" Ngo before he signed to Sentinels. ShahZaM even went as far to call Gares "the best IGL in CS"

As of this moment, Sean Gares future is subject to speculation. The only substantive information we have is he'll no longer be commentating in any capacity at Riot VCT events. However, the move to coaching makes too much sense as Gares is considered one of the best analytical minds in the scene.

Regardless, the loss of Sean Gares on the broadcast will be a painful blow to the fanbase. We'll miss his skill as a commentator. The excellent timing, cadence, chemistry with ddk, and much needed breakdown of hectic plays elevated the VCT broadcast. But, even more pressing, is a broadcast talent so willing to engage with the community to help better understand the game.

Conversely, that's not to say the talent pool is thin for VCT, far from it, but to lose a dedicated figurehead like Sean Gares raises some eyebrows. That's not to say the breakup won't be beneficial for him in the long-run, but the tweet makes it appear as if it was as much of a shock to him as it was to us. It's rare to see a marquee name be suddenly dropped from talent consideration. The announcements sets a worrying precedent for future talent negotations.