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Riot Games released an official statement revealing that Team Envy’s Victor "Victor" Wong has tested positive for COVID-19. The publisher has made arrangements to help Victor continue competing but he will not be able to participate on the main stage. There is a special quarantine LAN facility in Berlin that will allow the player to complete his matches.
Riot Games’ response to the current situation
Riot Games in an official statement on Twitter revealed that the safety and health of the players in Berlin are a priority. Victor was confirmed to have received a positive result from his COVID-19 PCR test and in accordance with the tournament policy, special arrangements will be made for the player and his teammates.
The publisher revealed that there is a LAN network that was built for such situations and Envy and its opponents will be able to play the scheduled matches on the network which has been built in a quarantine facility. Victor will be participating from an isolated room while other players will be able to compete from nearby practice rooms. The order of the matches for Team Envy may be subject to change as Riot Games prepares itself to make the necessary accommodations for the team. Alex Francois, who is the head of the Valorant esports division is responsible for the development of the special quarantine facility.
Victor is not the only player who will have to play in an isolated environment. Team Liquid’s Nabil “Nivera” Benrlitom also contracted COVID-19 and will be required to play from an isolated ROOM. The upcoming Valorant world championship is being held in Berlin, Germany amidst skyrocketing cases within the country. Germany has reported over 1.1 million cases of coronavirus in the past four weeks alone according to the COVID-19 dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Riot Games has taken necessary steps to ensure that players are able to compete in a LAN environment instead of shifting to online services, which is the right step on the publisher’s part as it prevents latency from becoming a factor in competitive play.
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