Ubisoft has retired Frag Dolls, its all-female professional gamer team, 11 years after it was founded, the Frag Dolls have announced.
“The Frag Dolls team – after almost 11 years, 22 team members, and who-knows-how-many games played together – is finally being retired,” Frag Doll Morgan “Rhoulette FD” Romine, who retired from her role as Team Captain of the Frag Dolls in 2011 said in a post to the team’s official website.
“Sad as it is to see something we have loved so much, for so long, reach its final days, there is a sweetness in this simple closure,” Romine said. “As the wide community of gamers grows up, we are beginning to learn how to incorporate this burgeoning diversity into our cultural identity. There are growing pains, like with any cultural sea change. But as we say goodbye to the Frag Dolls, we welcome the emerging world in which it will be taken for granted that women do, of course, play and love games, because video games truly are for everyone.”
Ubisoft didn’t say why it was retiring the Frag Dolls, but several team members have left this year.
Romine thanked Ubisoft for its support over the years, and cited the team’s Cadette program as its proudest accomplishment. The program, which provided mentorship and work experience in the gaming industry, helped more than 80 women land jobs at Electronic Arts, Blizzard, Nintendo, Oculus, and more.
According to Frag Dolls’ website, the team also made history by becoming the first all-female team to take the first place in a professional LAN tournament (the Cyberathlete Professional League).