Riot Games confirmed the investigation of alleged cheating and competitive integrity breaches in VCT Pacific.
VCT Pacific head Jake Sin confirmed that Riot Games has an ongoing investigation into the competitive integrity issues and cheating allegations currently plaguing the region.
Riot Games responds to alleged cheating in VCT Pacific
Jake Sin, head of VALORANT Esports for Asia-Pacific, issued a statement to address the recent concerns that threaten competitive integrity within the region.
This response comes after the issues were raised by several competitors and propagated throughout the online community.
One particular issue was this screenshot that shows Team Secret's Ko "Sylvan" Young-sub and Gen.G's Kim "Lakia" Jong-min improperly wearing their headphones.
This would supposedly allow them to hear the Korean casters in the venue.
VCT Pacific fans were understandably unhappy, both with the issues and Sin's response. Popular sentiments within the community are to move the venue to a different host country, and the statement sounded hostile to those who would intend to expose similar schemes in the future.
Jemkin, coach FrosT raise preferential treatment for Korean teams
Maksim "Jemkin" Batorov initially talked about the issues after their loss to Paper Rex and T1, which caused them to miss out on Masters Santiago.
"Our first game, Nongshim [RedForce] was late for 18 minutes, and they got no penalties. T1 players, they always smoke in the restroom; they never get penalties. I don't care that I'm not allowed to say that - they always smoke and vape in the restroom but they never get penalized. But, if someone from us smoke, we will get penalty for that."
Paper Rex was also treated favorably by the operators, Jemkin alleges. After repeated reminders from the VCT Pacific operations team, Paper Rex forgot to unlock Veto. This was supposed to be a penalized offense, but instead, Paper Rex was awarded a redo of the Agent Select.
"Admins need to do something; sometimes the nepotism... is a little crazy toward Korean and the more popular teams." Despite the issues he voiced, Jemkin believes that their loss to Paper Rex can only be attributed to his opponents playing better.
Afterward, Jemkin brought up the headset issue in a now-deleted post on X.
On an episode of SpikeTalk, Global Esports coach Hector "FrosT" Rosario shared his thoughts on the issue.
"I'm tired of Pacific, straight up. I'm sick of the b******t. [RRQ] lost, so he comes off as salty, but Jemkin isn't the type... facts are facts."
"Instead of listening to a player that isn't vocal, then vocalizes his frustration, instead they go 'take that Tweet down' and sweep it under the rug."
FrosT backed up Jemkin's concerns, too. Speaking about the smoking issue, FrosT emphasized the fact that T1 is getting preferential treatment. "Trust me... T1 is very special. The preference for them is insane."
FrosT had similarly strong feelings about the headset issue and added that there are more integrity issues, like coaches being able to see the crowd. "Competitive integrity is not what this league cares about."
He added that the preferential treatment within the region runs strong. "In Pacific... I'm sure you can show them a murdered body, two bullets, and blood, and they'd be like 'Nope! Died of a heart attack.'"
He has resigned to playing with the competitive disadvantage. "I'm going to act as if everyone has my scrims, and everyone's cheating on stage," the coach said.
Professional VALORANT play continues in Masters Santiago, beginning Feb. 28.
