Recently, the T1 team issued an official statement to clarify Zeus's unexpected departure from their League of Legends squad (League of Legends) last year.
“First of all, I fully acknowledged that the initial offer sent to The Play (Zeus representatives) and Zeus during the transfer negotiation may make the player feel disrespectful,” said Josh Ahn – CEO of T1 – said in the video posted on the official YouTube channel.
Ahn added that Zeus really wanted to continue to stay in T1, and prioritized the extension with the old team. Ahn also apologized for sharing some inaccurate information related to the incident and acknowledged T1's handling after Zeus left the team “not really good”.
Therefore, the team decided to speak up to prevent misunderstandings and false rumors continued to spread. Ahn said that T1 once believed that he had reached a preliminary agreement with Zeus and the representative company, but later Hanwha Life Esports (HLE) suddenly made the final offer to Zeus.
The Play informed T1 that HLE's offer was limited, but according to AHN, in the direct call with HLE, T1 was understood without any time limit. This has led to a serious misunderstanding between T1 and Zeus's representative.
T1 also acknowledged that the problem stems from the lack of internal communication carefully, and calling for fans not to criticize Zeus or his family for what happened.
After Zeus moved to Hanwha Life Esports, T1 had to rush to find the replacement before the transfer closed, and finally recruited Doran for the top lane.
Although no title with Doran, T1 still achieved the runner -up at MSI 2025. Meanwhile, Zeus and HLE won the First Stand championship – the first international tournament of this season.