The Guard’s future suddenly looked uncertain when multiple employees stated they were unceremoniously fired on February 23.
According to the North American esports organization’s former producer Hunter Grooms, 29 employees across various sectors from their marketing, design, talent, and content teams were blindsided by mass layoffs.
However, at least for now, the Guard is expected to keep its Valorant, Call of Duty, and Overwatch League teams.
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The Guard’s future plans after its internal collapse
According to a report by James Fudge from the Esports Advocate, the organization’s esports teams will remain operational.
The Los Angeles Guerrillas and Los Angeles Gladiators – The Guard’s CoD and Overwatch League teams – will continue with the organization until a buyer is found for both teams or until each team’s respective league season ends.
The same outcome is expected for their Valorant roster, a squad filled with rising stars in the North American region. They are currently competing in Valorant Challengers NA Split 1. This comes after the org was not selected as a franchise team for the VCT 2023 season.
Michael “neT” Bernet, the Valorant team’s sentinel and controller player, was also surprised by the organization’s decision to fire most of its staff members. He also offered his support to those affected.
“I don’t really have words for what happened,” he tweeted. “But I do know one thing. The former and current employees are all gems of human beings. Any org would be lucky to have every one of them.”
The Guard has yet to officially state why they let go of multiple employees or what they plan to do next with their esports teams.
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