Valorant and former PUBG player Diondre ‘YaBoiDre’ Bond has announced his retirement from professional play to work at Riot Games as a quality assurance engineer, he announced on October 13.
Competitive Valorant’s offseason has meant seeing organizations form potential super teams, but also player retirements as the esport moves into a partnered league system. One casualty of that move is YaBoiDre, who was one of the first wave of players to jump into Valorant as a competitive esport and recently announced his retirement.
The player has been on six different teams in his time in Valorant and was a part of the roster that 100 Thieves signed as the organization’s first in the game.
After 100 Thieves, the 22-year-old player went to beastcoast, then Luminosity Gaming and Evil Geniuses, before finishing his career with NYFU. His most notable appearances at the highest level of North American play include his time on Luminosity in 2021, and Evil Geniuses in early 2022 before he was benched from both teams.
His last pro appearance was with NYFU before the organization pulled out of Valorant due to not making one of the partnership leagues with the developer.
YaBoiDre’s highest placement at a Valorant Champions Tour event was third at Challengers-level events. He never saw international play in the Riot Games’ title.
YaBoiDre competed in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds before making the jump into Valorant.
Riot Games gains a Valorant pro
With the deadline for teams in the partnership program to finalize their rosters fast approaching, YaBoiDre announced that he was off the market for them and teams in tier two.
“As of now I will be retiring from competitive VALORANT and pursuing this full-time. I appreciate all the support I’ve gotten throughout my career and hope everyone can support me in the future,” he said on Twitter.
Riot Games has had many former professional players come work for them in the past on their esports titles, with YaBoiDre being the latest addition to their ranks.
About Post Author
