Jankos left G2 after 5 years of playing under their banner. While he intends to play professionally in 2023 if he can, his expensive contract buyout might make a swap to full-time streaming his best option.
Jankos’ departure from G2’s roster came as a shock to many, even the man himself. According to Jankos’ original announcement that he wouldn’t be playing for G2 Esports in 2022, he was originally planning to keep playing before he was taken off their starting roster following Worlds 2022.
And, while Jankos may not be playing under G2, he’s still contracted with the org until the end of 2023. This makes his contract buyout expensive and makes him a pricy proposition for any team that would want to put the superstar jungler on their starting roster. This is similar to Rekkles’ account of why he couldn’t play in the LEC in 2022.
So, rather than trying to wade through contract hell and find a team willing to pay a hefty buyout, Jankos might not be playing professionally in 2023 at all. Instead, he’s “considering” the swap to streaming full-time.
Jankos might swap to full-time streaming in 2023
Out of all the League of Legends pro players, Jankos has one of the largest individual followings. His streams consistently garner thousands of viewers, with people sticking around for his high-level gameplay and vivacious personality.
Streaming has always been an option for Jankos. His existing following would make him one of the biggest League of Legends streamers regardless of whether or not he’s playing professionally.
And, due to the fact that his contract with G2 doesn’t expire until 2023, there’s a very real chance that we don’t see this internationally recognized jungler on a pro team for the year.
Jankos has been streaming himself bootcamping in Korean solo queue, and he got into a conversation about how realistic his chances of playing professionally next year are.
His existing contract with G2 makes this complicated. “To get a decent salary plus a buyout from G2 will not be that simple for me this year, I think. I cannot tell you how much my contract is, I don’t think I’m allowed to do that, but it’s very expensive.”
The complications involved with joining any of the LEC teams for Jankos may make it easier for him to swap to streaming full-time than to pursue pro play in 2023.
“Honestly, I was considering just streaming.” He spoke at length about the issues involving his contract, and concluded by saying he wouldn’t be satisfied by just any team in the LEC.
“I would like to play with a good roster, or at least make it worth it. And, from my understanding, if I stream for a bit, hopefully teams won’t lose interest in me and I can just grind solo queue. And watch pro play. And wait until a team decides to really hard commit to changing their jungler.”
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