The MVP of Overwatch League and San Francisco Shock star called Jay Sinatraa will officially be retiring from Overwatch to play Valorant, his now-former team has announced. The San Francisco Shock bid a shoking farewell to their super star on April 28, but for those who had been watching the streams of Sinatraa, the news did not come as too great of a shock.
The player named Sinatraa had been discussing a main decision coming his way during recent broadcasts, but he did not reveal exactly what it was. Now, it seems like he is living the game that made him a household name in last year to get a head start on Valorant.
As reported by ESPN, Sinatraa will be joining the Sentinels esports organization and leaving behind NRG, the parent org of the Shock. Exactly how much money this one will be making playing Valorant is currently unknown, but it was enough tomake him walk away from his $150,000 a year Overwatch League contract. The last game of him with the Shock was a March 29 matchup against the Los Angeles Valiant, which San Francisco actually lost 3-1.
Sinatraa would not have been able to stay on with NRG even if he wanted to. The main reason behind it is because of OWL rules that basically forbid retiring players from signing with any org that has involved with a competing Overwatch League team. In the past, Sentinels used to be the parent organization of the Los Angeles Gladiators, until they settled a lawsuit in 2019 giving control of the team to the owners Kroenke Sports and Entertainment.
Currently 20 years old, the popular player named Sinatraa signed his contract with the Shock when he was only 17, was still unable to even play in the League. Once the player was able to play though, he led Team USA to a Gold medal in the 2019 Overwatch World Cup and became MVP after San Francisco’s storied 2019 OWL championship run. This one is definitely the biggest Overwatch name to jump ship to Valorant so far, but based on the maounbt of hype, and the amount of current and former players consistently streaming the new FPS of Riot Games, he probably will not be the last. No one knows who will be joining Sinatraa on the Sentinels Valorant team, but the organization also has Fortnite World Cup champ Kyle Bugha Giersdorf and another former OWL star Felix xQc Lengyel signed, so there are a few interesting possibilities that could potentially happen.
The departure of Sinatraa was announced before he has even had his 2019 MVP skin revealed by the Overwatch League, and it is unknown whether or not he will return to the game temporarily to check it out once it is released. Right now, Valorant is still in the early days of beta, and people are sure to see more announcements coming from esports players switching to the new game as it get closer to the release.
