Hiko Retires From Professional Valorant
Published: Apr 14, 2022
Since the early days of Valorant esports, Spencer “Hiko” Martin has been at the very forefront, leading the charge under the banner of 100 Thieves. But today marks the end of an era as Hiko has announced his retirement from professional Valorant and a full transition over to the content creation role.
While you won’t be seeing him compete in the Valorant Champions Tour anymore, you’ll still be able to catch him live on his Twitch stream, where he’ll be doing his usual content his fans love and support.
A Successful Career
Hiko has been there since the very beginning of CS:GO, watching Valve’s first-person shooter evolve into the esports sensation that it is today. When Valorant came out, Hiko joined forces with 100 Thieves and helped build the first roster that ended up winning the First Strike North America.
He’s seen it all, the highs and the lows, the good and the bad. And now at the age of 32, Hiko has finally decided he’s ready to close that chapter in his life.
100 Thieves released a video with a special message from Hiko, where he reminisces about all the good times he had with the team. The video certainly does have a bittersweet feel to it, but Hiko balances it out by pointing out he won’t be gone for good. He’s transitioning to a full-time content creator role where he’ll devote all his energy to streaming and creating new and unique content for his fans.
Hiko left a heartfelt message on his Twitter, thanking everyone who was a part of his 14-year journey.
Thank YOU for being a part of my 14-year journey. I cannot express how grateful I am for my fans, my Twitch community, and 100 Thieves. LOVE YOU ALL!!!
And although it might seem like this is the end of Hiko, it couldn’t be further from the truth. You’ll be seeing him stream live on Twitch every day, where you’ll still be able to get your daily dose of Valorant.
A special message from the captain of clutch, @Hiko.
While today marks the end of Spencer's professional VALORANT career, he is excited to share details about his new journey here @100Thieves. pic.twitter.com/Ideeb7MHTR
— 100 Thieves VALORANT (@100T_VAL) April 12, 2022
Time For a Change
Now that Hiko is gone from the 100 Thieves Valorant roster, a huge void remains. The organisation has a difficult task of finding a suitable replacement and, whoever joins, will have some big shoes to fill.
There are currently three players remaining – Ethan “Ethan” Arnold, Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk, and Sean “bang” Bezerra. Ethan is still the team’s captain, unless something changes in the future.
Asuna is the main Duelist and he’s in charge of carrying the matches for 100 Thieves. And that just leaves us with bang, who’s still on loan from TSM, so we’re not really sure what’s going to happen with him.
In any case, we expect 100 Thieves to make some big announcements pretty soon. There’s quite a good number of potential replacements, but 100 Thieves might even wait until the Stage 1 Masters are over before they fully commit to this next step.
