Sentinels - Valorant

Cover-Credits: 

Sentinels CEO Claims Riot Games Deducted Player Expenses From VCT Prize Pool

Abhimannu Das
Updated On: 
Highlights
Sentinels’ Jared "zombs" Gitlin had claimed that he received less prize money than what was promised due to Riot’s COVID testing in VCT.
Sentinels’ CEO Rob Moore clarified the situation saying that the prize money was deducted incorrectly by the organization.
However, Riot Games had deducted expenses from the prize money according to Moore.

Sentinels’ Jared "zombs" Gitlin had claimed that Riot Games paid less prize money for the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT). Zombs was likely referring to the VCT Stage 1 Challengers event he participated in earlier this year. He said on stream that since Riot Games had to conduct COVID tests, the money was deducted from the prize pool of competing teams. Sentinels’ CEO Rob Moore confirmed that Riot Games did deduct certain expenses from the payout but there was an accounting error which led to players receiving less money from Sentinels’ end.

Zombs is unhappy with Riot Game’s handling of the VCT

In a Twitch stream on 29th April, Zombs had claimed that Riot Games did not pay his team in full. “Riot is literally the cheapest company that exists. You know Riot took money out [of] the prize pool for their, like, costs and shit? We got thousands of dollars less because they took money out of the prize pool to support all the COVID tests and random costs of their tournament,” he said.

Zombs added that he didn’t care about making this matter public. “I don't care. Doesn't matter to me. Maybe just pay the actual prize money and then we're—and then it wouldn't be an issue,” he said.

Sentinels' CEO Rob Moore revealed that there were certain expenses deducted by Riot Games from the payout. Some related to player expenses but the majority related to covid tests and hotel rooms for Sentinels staff. But there were some errors on Sentinels’ accounting end as well. Rob said, “I misread the statement and charged all the expenses against the prize money reducing the prize payouts by $1,675. This mistake has now been corrected and all the players will be receiving an additional payout.”

Riot Games conducted thorough testing for players participating in its LAN events. The publisher even made special arrangements for COVID-affected players to continue competing in LAN events in an isolated environment, which is starkly different from how EA is handling things for the Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS). Any Apex pro who has COVID-19 is banned from the event arena and a substitute needs to be fielded.


Published On: 
author profile picture
Abhimannu is a PC esports writer at AFK Gaming. With over seven years of experience in esports journalism, he has worked on a myriad of games and their ecosystems including Valorant, Overwatch and Apex Legends.

Follow us on social media

facebook-logotwitter-logoinstagram-logodiscord-logolinkedin-logo
google-news-logo

Others Also Read