Following a narrow failure to secure qualification to the Six Jönköping Major, REJECT will part ways with Ryota "Window" Hirata at the end of Nov. 2022.
It is currently unclear if he left the team of his own volition, or if he has been dropped, but the player today announced on Twitter he has been allowed to explore his options with other teams for the future.
Window confirmed his impending exit and revealed that he will leave the team after November in response to a SiegeGG query, but he and the REJECT team manager declined to comment on the nature and reason for his departure.
The news comes less than a week after the conclusion of Stage 3 of the APAC North league and two weeks after REJECT were mathematically ruled out of Major qualification. REJECT eventually finished in third place, just one point behind second-placed SANDBOX Gaming.
The newly-promoted team suffered a greater disappointment domestically, though. It finished the Japan League 2022 in seventh place overall after eighth, fifth, and ninth placed finishes in each season this year.
Their Season 1 and 2 finishes saw them qualify to the Japan League playoffs anyway, but they were top eight and fourth in each respective season. As a result, REJECT also missed out on the US$103,000 Japan Invitational 2022, which also features DWG KIA and Team BDS.
Window was the second-best player on REJECT by SiegeGG Rating in Stages 2 and 3 in APAC North, though he struggled in Stage 1 alongside the rest of his team. It is thus likely he will have a long list of suitors, whether in APAC North or only the Japan League.
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