James Banks 🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 · @BanKsEsports
10th Feb 2021 from TwitLonger
Sadly this might be the end of VALORANT for Mitch and I as a duo in 2021.
Hey all!
Since First Strike Main event and VCT was announced the fans and players have asked us, tagged us in posts and wanted to know why Mitch & I are not commentating the VALORANT VCT Europe events together and honestly we had no idea why until I received an email today sent by Freaks4U.
After many months of hoping for good news it was truly crushing to read the contents. Although myself and Mitch pushed to work together on every event since the start of VALORANT there are always some instances where it isn't possible. During the First Strike qualifiers I wanted Mitch by my side but sadly we couldn't despite our best efforts, and vice versa for First Strike Main event where again we were split.
Normally this is just a little hiccup, a bump in the road but today is much more than that. Today within the email I found out that the talent for all of 2021 has been decided and I will not be involved in this circuit despite me contacting both Riot and Freaks4U multiple times to work with Mitch and also Mitch asking them during his negotiation process that he wanted to continue the duo work with me as well.
This means that for the majority of the year I will not be able to cover VALORANT. I had one other hope to get us on the broadcast in North America but sadly with the region lock of talent that won't be possible anymore.
I want to be clear here that the talent working the current European VCT are all fantastic and we can’t fault the choices but none of it makes sense to us why we were ignored and then not picked as a duo - who have put so much time, effort and energy into the game and are widely enjoyed by the community. We have a great work ethic and real passion for the game with unmatched synergy, we are best friends outside of the game but are now sadly forced not to commentate together without an actual reason.
This might be the end of VALORANT for Mitch and I as a duo in 2021, with the VCT schedule taking up most of the year it is going to be very hard for us to cover the game together as we wanted. We will still be pushing non stop to make it work on other events but really this is a sad day for both of us who have worked since day 1 on covering the game to the highest standards.
Personally I will still be trying to grow the European scene with some events outside of the VCT that are desperately needed to support the current ecosystem but sometimes you can’t win them all. As always I will be cheering and supporting Mitch, not only my amazing co commentator but my best and shortest friend <3