Asian esports organisation TALON Esports has been officially removed from VCT Pacific and the LCP, Riot Games’ competitive circuits in VALORANT and League of Legends, respectively.
The announcements were made by both the LCP and VCT Pacific, citing financial issues as the main reason behind TALON’s removal from the tier-one ecosystems.
In a social media post from the team, TALON explained that its financial difficulties have been primarily caused by delays in funding from the current financing round, heavily affecting its esports business operations.
According to the public statement made by the LCP, the organisation was given multiple extensions to resolve the issue. However, it was still unable to fulfil the requirements to compete in the VALORANT league, thus leading to the removal.
Who Will Replace TALON in the LCP and VCT
While TALON Esports had already previously faced controversies regarding the failure to repay interest on a $1m (~£742,668) loan, the team’s removal across both game titles comes as a major bombshell in the offseason.
Prior to the official announcement, former TALON streamer Chang ‘Zod’ Po-Cheng unveiled on stream that the team owes him several months of salaries, further reinforcing the concerns about the team’s financial stability.
On VALORANT’s end, this is the second partner team to leave VCT this year, following KOI in EMEA. For League of Legends, it marks a major loss for the LCP as TALON was one of the three representatives at this year’s World Championship and one of the top teams from the Pacific region as a whole.
With the organisation removed across both games, each league will now have to find a new partner for their competition.
“As for a replacement team, we’re going to run a selective application process to find one before our 2026 season begins,” said Jake ‘Jaker’ Sin, Head of VALORANT Esports, APAC at Riot Games. “Our priority is to identify a team that can resonate with our Thai community to ensure we maintain representation in VCT Pacific.”
Regarding the players who are now teamless, Riot Jaker stated they are welcome to stay in the ecosystem, ‘as part of another team or even across multiple teams’.
On the LCP’s side, the league will also be looking for replacement teams to fill Talon’s slot. That said, nothing is confirmed as of yet, and Riot Games will provide an update when the process is finalised.
