Team Vitality’s V.Hive, the esports club’s headquarters and public gaming venue on Boulevard de Sébastopol in central Paris, was looted on Saturday, October 17, during the nationwide day of protests in France. In a statement on X, the club said its display windows were destroyed and its trophies and computer equipment were stolen. Nobody was hurt.
V.Hive is closed until further notice while Vitality assesses the damage.
V.Hive's street-front windows on Boulevard de Sébastopol, pictured before the October 17 break-in; the club says these windows were destroyed. Image: Team Vitality
Table of Contents
What Team Vitality said about the V.Hive looting
The club’s statement, posted in French on Saturday evening, says its premises were looted “on the sidelines of the mobilisation of October 17.” It confirms three things:
- No injuries: “none of our staff members nor any fans were injured.”
- Damage and theft: the display windows were destroyed, and trophies and computer equipment were taken.
- Closure: V.Hive stays closed until the full extent of the damage is known, and more information will follow.
According to HLTV, the venue’s manager also posted that the building was closed to both the public and staff when it was broken into. That week the club had been using V.Hive for fan watch parties during its Valorant Champions run, including one on Saturday morning, according to Vitality’s own posts on X.
Which trophy was stolen?
Vitality has not published a list of the missing trophies. Videos shared on social media appear to show a person carrying away the club’s Counter-Strike 2 trophy from StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2026, and GosuGamers and Dexerto both report it among the stolen items. Vitality’s CS2 team won that event on September 20, beating Aurora Gaming 3-1 in the grand final in Barcelona. HLTV puts it more cautiously: social media posts “suggest” the trophy was stolen. Until the club confirms it, treat the identity of the stolen silverware as reported, not official.
Other footage described by HLTV and GosuGamers shows smashed windows, gaming chairs being thrown onto a fire outside, and computer equipment being carried out of the building.
The V.Hive shop and entrance area, pictured before the looting. The venue is closed until the damage is assessed. Image: Team Vitality
CEO Neo: “a part of me go up in smoke”
Co-founder and CEO Fabien “Neo” Devide responded on X before the club’s statement. He said V.Hive was born from a childhood spent discovering esports in internet cafés, back when home internet was too expensive for many families. Gaming sessions there have cost €3.50 an hour since it opened, a price he said was chosen so teenagers and people on modest incomes could afford to play, and which the club never raised despite inflation.
He also noted the timing: he had just watched the club’s performance in Shanghai, where its Valorant team was competing at Champions, and was seeing “a part of me go up in smoke” thousands of kilometres away. “The right to demonstrate is a fundamental freedom that I will defend all my life,” he wrote, thanking those who mobilise for their convictions, but adding that looting and destruction “should never have a place in these fights.”
The October 17 protests in France
Saturday’s demonstrations took place across France over the cost of living and the state of public services. They followed weeks of protests by secondary-school students over staffing shortages and run-down school buildings, and grew to include trade unions and other groups, according to HLTV and GosuGamers. GosuGamers, citing Agence France-Presse, reports an Interior Ministry estimate of about 550,000 participants nationwide; the CGT union gave a higher figure. Most marches were peaceful, but in Paris several shops on Boulevard de Sébastopol had their windows smashed, CNews reported, and V.Hive was one of the businesses hit.
Why V.Hive matters to French esports
Vitality is one of France’s biggest esports clubs, with teams in Counter-Strike 2, Valorant and League of Legends among others. V.Hive is more than an office: the official V.Hive page describes 400 square metres that house the team’s offices, a gaming room open to the public, a café for watching matches, the club’s shop and a training space, with room for up to 180 people at events. For Paris-based fans it is the club’s physical home, so the closure hits the community as well as the club. For background on how competitive scenes like this grew, see our look at the Counter-Strike esports circuit, the long-running debate over esports in the Olympics, and our explainer on the road to Valorant Champions.
What’s next
Vitality says V.Hive stays shut until the damage has been assessed and that it will share more information later. There is no reopening date yet, no official list of missing trophies, and no word on whether any items have been recovered. We’ll update this story when the club or the Paris authorities say more.
Sources: Team Vitality on X, Fabien “Neo” Devide on X, HLTV, aAa (Team-aAa), GosuGamers, CNews.
Live: Follow today’s gaming news as it happens
Featured image: Team Vitality
