BearClaw Gaming's team dissolves after payment issues

Citing payment and support issues from BearClaw Gaming’s parent company/main sponsor, Plynius, the team’s former General Manager Steven Kim has announced that the roster has departed the organization.

According to the statement, none of the team’s players have been paid since January 2021. In addition, they “are not receiving any basic support necessary for the operation of the team, such as accommodation and equipment for the players that Plynius agreed and promised to provide in the contract.”

From now on, BearClaw Gaming’s roster will stay together but play under a different name, MUYAHO. The future of their Challengers 2 spot is somewhat uncertain - Riot’s Global Competition Policy only states that the owner that registered the team, in this case BearClaw, retains the spot unless more than three of the team’s players have left. It seems likely that the former BearClaw players will keep this slot, but it is not entirely clear.

On BearClaw’s end, they’ve announced that they’ve also separated all ties with Plynius, and will be looking to re-enter Korean VALORANT in the future. Whether or not they’ll be able to find a team that trusts them will be something of concern.

All of BearClaw’s former roster - Choi "10X" Jin-woo, Kim "Harry" Han-gyu, Yu "BuZz" Byung-chul, Jeon "GANA" Hyeong-heon, and Kang "iNTRO" Seung-gyun, are now free agents, though they’ll be playing together under MUYAHO for at least the near future.