Virtus.Pro is finally re-claiming their Outsiders rosters this week. Following, Aram Karamanukyan being named CEO, the team will now be making a return to Dota 2 just in time for TI2022 Last Chance Qualifier.
The official DOTA 2 website tweaked their latest DPC rankings, and they now show Vitrus.pro instead of Outsiders. This is a nice update from the last version of these rankings which just named them as the organization-less team. The change comes changes to the team’s ownership and an update to the management of the organization.
So far, the CS:GO and PUBG teams still compete under the Outsiders and Northern Lights monikers.
Name change in the nick of time
Big changes for the team started off as soon as a change in ownership was announced. This was aimed at mitigating and going around some issues with the org at the moment. The team fell under sanctions placed on Russia’s oligarchs, and this new change in ownership will help circumvent them. In the past, organizers had forced the team to play with a neutral name to avoid a reference for the Russian-based team.
ESforce Holding (former parent company of Vitrus.Pro) has removed references to the team from their list of key assets on their website. That’s along with bringing an investor on board as a new figurehead for the team. However, public data still notes that there’s actually not been a major change in ownership.
VK is a publicly traded company, and major difference in ownership would have to be reported. This hasn’t happened yet. So you can probably assume the current changes have more to do with allowing the team to compete more widely once again.
Virtus.Pro is returning to Dota 2 just in time for the Last Chance Qualifiers for the International. We might see them accepted in other esports too. They’re due to begin competing in the IEM Road to Rio RMR next month, potentially using the original name for the team. In PUBG, PCS7 kicks off in Europe in one week, and we might see the roster revert back to its original naming.
Premier event organizers may still opt out to block VP, if they see this as just a ploy to evade sanctions. Although, a new CEO could mean bigger changes than just a team name, we’ll have to see what develops with the organization by end of year.
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