During an ongoing stream on the same day of announcing his retirement, TenZ reassured his gutted fans that he might still return to competitive VALORANT, and sooner than most people think.
Roster shuffles after the end of each VALORANT season are standard, but no one expected TenZ’s retirement from professional play on Sept. 14. The former Sentinels’ player, now turned full-time content creator for the organization, had already been streaming on Twitch and YouTube for two hours before his announcement dropped. He quickly wrapped up his ranked match to shed some light on his deision, opening a window of hope after addressing his decision by telling his viewers he might someday return to pro VALORANT—albeit only for a short period.
“Let it be known that maybe one day, maybe one day, I might come back for a short period of time,” TenZ declared his intention to the viewers tuned into his Sept. 14 stream. The VALORANT superstar, however, clarified that his return won’t be anytime soon—but it might happen in the not-too-distant future. TenZ first jokingly expressed that he might step in as a sub for Sentinels when required in the short announcement video posted by the org on X (formerly Twitter).
However, his statement during his stream came as he tried to give some hope to his massive fanbase—many of whom were evidently upset in his chat. TenZ boasts almost 10 million followers across four platforms: Twitch, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. Hundreds of thousands of people tune in to watch him in action, visibly spiking the viewership for most VALORANT events during Sentinels’ matches.
A majority of VALORANT and TenZ fans alike respect his decision to step away, though many fear his absence will lead to a significant drop in viewership across all tournaments going forward. In the initial reveal video posted across all his socials, TenZ expressed his lifelong desire to focus solely on content creation, stemming from idolizing Counter-Strike players like Shroud while growing up—who was in a similar position back in 2018.
