Evil Geniuses ends competitive and day-to-day operations on November 2

Evil Geniuses will end competitive and day-to-day operations on November 2, 2026, the North American esports organisation announced October 20, 2026 through its website and a LinkedIn post from chief executive Chris DeAppolonio. The shutdown ends more than 25 years of operation.

Evil Geniuses cited limited sponsorship and investment across the industry and the rising cost of competing at the top level as reasons the business cannot be run responsibly. Chief executive Chris DeAppolonio said sustained investment and staff dedication were not enough to overcome the financial pressures, concluding that the current environment made responsible operation impossible. “Unfortunately, esports continues to face significant headwinds, including limited sponsorship and the rising cost of competing at the top level,” he said.

Evil Geniuses was founded in 1999 and operated for more than 25 years across at least 20 titles. The organisation competed in VALORANT, League of Legends, Counter-Strike and Dota 2, though its Rocket League, DOTA 2, Counter-Strike and League of Legends teams all disbanded by 2024. Its fighting game squad once included SonicFox and dekillsage, who had multiple championship runs, before EG shed that roster. By late in its history EG was primarily active in VALORANT, the last title in which it remained active.

EG won Dota 2’s The International in 2015, a victory that stands among the organisation’s major accolades across its history. In VALORANT, Evil Geniuses became the first team to qualify for the playoffs of the VALORANT Champions Tour 2023 Masters Tokyo after defeating DRX 2-0 in Group B’s winner’s match-up on June 12, 2023, sweeping both group-stage games without dropping a map. The qualification placed EG alongside LOUD, Fnatic, Paper Rex and Team Liquid in the playoff bracket. EG later won VALORANT Champions 2023 in Los Angeles, beating Paper Rex 3-1 in the grand final for its first world title in the game, the first Champions trophy of the partnership era and the first international trophy for a North American organisation in the modern era of VALORANT.

The winning VALORANT Champions 2023 roster was Max “Demon1” Mazanov, Ethan “Ethan” Arnold, Kelden “Boostio” Pupello, Corbin “C0M” Lee and Alexander “jawgemo” Mor. Stevivor listed their in-game names alongside their legal or preferred names.

EG first entered Valorant in 2021 with a roster of Temperature, ALEKSANDAR, Osias, clawdia and potter, who later that year became the team’s second and last head coach. The initial lineup marked the organisation’s entry into Riot’s tactical shooter. EG missed getting partnered for Valorant’s 2026 VCT, a concern Shacknews mentioned alongside the earlier loss of the fighting game roster.

Riot Games will cut partnered organisations in every international Valorant league down to eight from ten starting in 2027. Strafe’s VCT 2027 partner team roundup, built from official confirmations and media reports, leaves out EG, and EG’s announcement does not connect its shutdown to those partnership picks. The October 20, 2026 announcement followed the reveal of the eighth and final VCT Americas spot for the next partnership agreement, which shut EG out of partnered status in 2027.

November 2, 2026 marks when VCT’s 2026 contracts end and free agency begins before the 2027 season, the same day EG stops operations. The timing aligns the organisational shutdown with the league’s contractual calendar, meaning players become free agents at the same moment EG ends operations.

All players, coaches and staff are considered free agents as of the October 20, 2026 announcement and may pursue positions with other organisations. This applies to the main team and its academy side, though Valorant players and coaches cannot sign with new teams until the 2026 season ends on November 2, 2026. Evil Geniuses Academy, formed earlier in 2026, was competing in FunHaver circuits as recently as October 3, 2026, and its players are free to speak with other organisations immediately. The academy team represented EG’s developmental effort in Valorant.

EG will wind down in an orderly way and work with every affected player, coach and staff member. DeAppolonio said he would personally vouch for every player, creator and staff member and shared his direct email address for job openings or reference requests, asking hiring organisations to contact EG’s outgoing people. The announcement did not say whether any part of the business will continue after November 2, 2026, and did not address the EG brand or the creator roster.

DeAppolonio said the past few years were spent rebuilding, during which EG stabilized operations, restored public sentiment, grew engagement and output, moved into new titles and built a creator roster. Despite those efforts, the organisation said it could not continue operating responsibly. Strafe Esports said EG had restructured in recent years before reaching its conclusion, and Strafe tracked the VALORANT partner-team selection process for 2027 while noting EG was not included in its roundup. The outlet did not connect the restructuring directly to the partnership decision.