barce was put in a reserve role for the team in his second spell without making a single appearance in any 2023 VCT season matches.
JAPAN – Ryo “barce” Takebayashi departs ZETA DIVISION after his second stint with the organization, where he initially played for two years in 2020-2022 and for another year in the 2023 VCT season.
“Thank you for your support over the past year. I hope you will continue to support me in my future endeavors,” the 27-year-old said in an official press release.
Despite competing at the highest level of Japanese VALORANT and qualifying for VALORANT Masters Berlin 2021 during his initial time with ZETA, barce was put in a reserve role for the team in his second spell without a single appearance in any 2023 VCT season matches.
ALSO READ: Orangutan to represent India at APAC Predator League over True Rippers
barce had been a part of ZETA DIVISION since the organization’s entrance into VALORANT in 2020 under the name Absolute JUPITER, with a period of playing for DetonatioN Gaming White in between during the 2022 season.
barce’s second departure from ZETA DIVISION will not affect the team significantly, considering his minimal involvement throughout the season. Moreover, with the updated roster rules for the upcoming season, teams now only need a minimum of five starting players, compared to the initial season’s six. This previous rule had necessitated teams to either have a backup player or adopt a six-man roster setup.
ZETA DIVISION are undergoing significant restructuring, with many speculations hinting at a complete overhaul. Yet, the only concrete changes so far include Tomoaki “crow” Maruoka moving to a coaching role, while Tenta “TENNN” Asai and coach Hibiki “XQQ” Motoyama have shifted their focus toward content creation for the organization.
At the time of publishing, ZETA DIVISION have not yet clarified their plans for the future, including whether they will retain Koji “Laz” Ushida, Yuma “Dep” Hashimoto, and Shota “SugarZ3ro” Watanabe for the upcoming season.
On the flip side, barce has yet to announce if he plans to return to the server or venture into different directions.
ZETA DIVISION are now:
- 🇯🇵 Koji “Laz” Ushida
- 🇯🇵 Yuma “Dep” Hashimoto
- 🇯🇵 Shota “SugarZ3ro” Watanabe
- 🇯🇵 Yuya “JUNiOR” Sawada (Coach)
- 🇯🇵 Tomoaki “crow” Maruoka (Playing coach)
- 🇯🇵 Syuhei “gya9” Takasaki (Analyst)
For more insights on the Asian VALORANT scene and upcoming content like this, be sure to like and follow VALO2ASIA on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.
Cover photo courtesy of VCT Pacific
