RRQ PHILIPPINES, one of the remaining major bastions in the local Wild Rift scene, has announced its departure from the scene.
In an emotional post, the team looked back on their journey. Throughout its history, RRQ made an impressive run, including an Icons Global Championship debut, where they emerged with a 5th-8th place finish.
"It is with a heavy heart to announce that we will be leaving the Wild Rift for now. It’s been an awesome two year journey as the team showed continued progress tournament by tournament," wrote the org.
"To our Wild Rift team, We are really proud of what you have accomplished together and you showed the world what determination & hard work can achieve. We would like to thank you, Helios, Chazz, Exosen, Markky, Kaigu, V1per, Tatsuri & JM for the memories we have built."
Given RRQ's departure from the Wild Rift scene and given some massive changes in their VALORANT roster with the announcement of the VCT's franchise system, will RRQ still exist in the Philippines?
According to the org: "This does not mean we will exit the Philippines, as we will continue to invest in the region."
Prior to this announcement, the team made a major acquisition as they brought in former Team Secret midlaner Heri "Tatsurii" Garcia last December.
With RRQ out, what is the outlook for Wild Rift in the PH?
With RRQ out of the Wild Rift scene, questions remain about the scene's vitality in the PH.
A few months ago, Riot Games announced that major changes will happen in the esports scene.
As Riot Games' president of esports John Needham said: “In 2023, we will centralize the operation and focus of Wild Rift Esports in Asia, the biggest and most active mobile esports market in the world. The new Wild Rift league in Asia will be the first Riot cross-regional professional mobile esports league and will replace the original Wild Rift Esports (WRE) in April of 2023."
He added: "This new league ecosystem will consist of twelve teams from China’s WRL and eight teams from the other 2022 Asian regions. The season will be structured as two splits each year and will focus on showcasing the best talent from the most competitive regions in our sport."
Then they revealed that they have decided to forego in operating the leagues outside of Asia.
"As part of the new plan, outside of Asia, we will no longer directly operate Wild Rift esports leagues and instead unlock the opportunity for third parties to host events - so that we will have our priority and focus on the up-coming Wild Rift Asia League," as Needham wrote in a blog post.
Did Riot's recent development play an outsize role in RRQ's decision? They aren't the only PH team that have departed Wild Rift, as both Team Secret and GrindSky Esports have also given up their teams.