TenZ reveals "one of the biggest contributing factors" to his retirement

Over the last few weeks, the VALORANT EMEA scene has been plagued by consistent technical issues that have led to extended pauses. This has been tough to deal with as a viewer, but even moreso as a player, since they're left to sit on stage and wait for the problems to be fixed. These issues were addressed recently by Daniel Ringland, head of VALORANT esports, on social media, and was met with ire from the community and from a handful of pro players who say the issues have lingered for years.

Changes are needed ASAP

Even Tyson "TenZ" Ngo, one of the most popular pros in VALORANT history, has chimed in and said that these on-stage LAN issues were one of the "biggest contributing factors that led to [his] decision to hang up the mouse." The 23-year-old streamer expressed his disappointment in the Tier One system, stating that these are problems that players have had to deal with since the start of the VCT circuit. According to TenZ, players constantly raised concerns around the current issues, but no solution was brought forth or implemented. He called for Riot to do better for the sake of its players and fans, and the VALORANT fanbase showed up in droves in his replies to agree.

If one of the most talented players in pro VALORANT history is saying that these issues were one of the biggest reasons why he retired, this could be a huge wakeup call for Riot to actually make some lasting changes. Some of worst issues lie with the computers and monitors being used by the players, which is unacceptable in a LAN environment meant to uphold competitive integrity.

EMEA tech woes

According to Nikita "Derke" Sirmitev, EMEA players have been dealing with so many issues on this end, including unoptimized PCs, and constant setting changes. He also said that players in EMEA are forced to share their PCs with League of Legends pros, since the studios in Berlin are shared between both VCT and the LEC. Whenever players brought up performance issues, they were told, "But League of Legends doesn't have this problem." Kirill "ANGE1" Karasiow responded and said that sharing the arena and equipment with the LEC has been a "core problem" since they don't have time to swap out monitors, and the games are played at really non-ideal times, which affects viewership.

Additionally, Derke says EMEA VALORANT pros were not told ahead of time that they wouldn't be playing in front of a crowd, which is a huge part of the pro player experience. Derke finished his rant by saying that he's tired of hearing that Riot will look into issues, only for them to remain unsolved every year.

Riot must take action now, or else they'll risk scaring away more talented stars like TenZ away from the scene. If Derke, who is one of the best players in the world, is openly complaining about these problems, it'll only be a matter of time before more and more disgruntled players begin to raise their voice towards Riot. If you want more updates on the growing EMEA unrest, stay locked in with THESPIKE.GG.