The VCT 2025: EMEA Stage 1 Valorant group stage match between Team Liquid and Karmine Corp was not completed due to technical issues on the stage. Following this incident, participants and other community figures expressed strong criticism towards Riot Games.
The teams were unable to determine a winner within three hours, spending the majority of that time paused while waiting for administrators to resolve the technical difficulties. These problems were attributed to both weak PCs on stage and poor network quality, with ping reaching 30ms, which is considered unacceptable for a LAN tournament. Consequently, the match had to be postponed.
Despite representatives from Riot Games issuing an apology, many felt it was insufficient. For instance, Nikita “Derke” Sirmitev from Team Vitality stated that these problems have persisted since the launch of VCT three years ago. Players have consistently requested powerful PCs, but each time, Riot Games staff asked for patience, and ultimately, nothing was done. According to Derke, attempting to fix the issues during the pause was pointless because they are fundamentally linked to the inadequate hardware. Sirmitev highlighted that the same computers are used for Valorant championships as for League of Legends tournaments, despite the two games having significantly different system requirements.
Some participants reacted to the situation with humor. For example, streamer and owner of Movistar KOI, Ibai Llanos Garatea, joked that his team would boycott the VCT 2025: EMEA Stage 1 playoffs until all problems are resolved. Later, three more teams joined this `flashmob`: Apeks, GIANTX, and Gentle Mates. The humor in this lies in the fact that none of these teams had advanced from the group stage and were not scheduled to play in the playoffs anyway.
Concurrently, Karmine Corp owner and highly popular French community caster, Kamel “Kamet0” Kebir, made a serious statement, declaring he would refuse to commentate on matches until Riot Games addresses the issues. Despite this stance, his team will continue to compete in the championship.
VCT 2025: EMEA Stage 1 is being held from March 26 to May 18 in Berlin. Competing teams are vying for three qualification slots for VALORANT Masters Toronto 2025, which features a million-dollar prize pool.