by Jared “zombs” Gitlin, who is currently an inactive member of Sentinels’ Valorant roster, has announced that he will be retiring from competitive play.
The 24-year-old American made the revelation on a live stream, stating that while he will remain with Sentinels, he will not be returning to compete under the franchise.
“I was scrimming for like a week,” zombs said.
“The team I was making had some potential and we had some potential organizations interested. But then I went to Los Angeles, I talked to the SEN owner, and now I never want to leave SEN. I am staying on SEN forever.
“I have been on SEN since the beginning, since they had like zero followers. I am not going to compete again. It’s not worth it for me anymore. I have opportunities that are better for the future, that are better in every aspect than competing.”
Zombs had previously started his professional esports career playing Overwatch in 2016 with WEUNITED. After a month with the European esports franchise, the team was disbanded, and he made his way to FaZe Clan. He spent a year with FaZe, after which he was unsigned for months before joining Simplicity in 2018, where he spent about three months.
After spending six months without a team, zombs was acquired by the North American franchise Skyfoxes. He spent four months with the franchise and then proceeded to retire from Overwatch competitive play.
Having announced his retirement from Overwatch, he made a switch to Apex Legends, where he only spent a lone season with Sentinels before retiring from the esports title in 2020.
His career as a Valorant player started off in 2020 after he made the switch from Apex Legends, but he remained with the franchise. He was a part of the franchise’s very first Valorant lineup assembled in April 2020. The franchise dominated the region in their first year and carried on their success into the following year.
In his two years with Sentinels, he assisted the team in clinching several regional titles, becoming one of the best teams in the North American region. He also has an international title under his belt, having won the VCT 2021 Stage 2 Masters Reykjavik. Their championship win made them the first North American esports franchise to clinch an international Valorant title.
However, his career took a nose dive in April 2022 as he was moved to the inactive roster during the season, with Eric “Kanpeki” Xu brought in as a replacement. Zombs attempted to create a new team but lost the zeal after discussing with the franchise owner.
According to him, the formation of a new team was not worth it, as it is a difficult task to get every player on the same page. With every roster having its own peculiar issues, zombs didn’t think he wanted to spend years of his life figuring it out.
It is unclear what the next direction is for zombs, but reports suggest he will carry on as a member of Sentinels, becoming their Valorant content creator. He will be joining a high-profile list of content creators which includes Tarik “tarik” Celik, Brandon “aceu” Winn, and Jay “sinatraa” Won.
