Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo called out Riot Games on a Twitch livestream for the company’s lack of high-end gear and PCs at major VCT events for the third year in a row.
Valorant pros have complained about the lack of high-end gear at international events since Riot kicked off the VCT circuit in 2021. The monitors and PCs players use on stage are allegedly a few generations behind and lack the specs they are used to from their personal and their team’s computers.
TenZ brought up the complaint again on a stream in Seoul ahead of Valorant Champions 2024.
“I never understood why from Riot’s perspective why they invest in such lower-end PCs,” he said.
The Sentinels player explained that Counter-Strike tournaments would advertise how they had the best-in-class PC setups for their matches. However, the two esports are different in that the CS circuit is open and has multiple organizers running events, while Valorant is a closed system run by one entity: Riot Games.
Counter-Strike 2 teams can choose not to participate in tournaments that provide poor gear or internet, while Valorant organizations are stuck using whatever gear Riot chooses for its events.
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“I’m almost certain that the same PCs that we use for Valorant are the same PCs that they use for League of Legends. And it probably just a thing of like ‘Oh League can run on a f****** potato.’ So I think they are just trying to min-max the cost,” TenZ said in the clip.
The Valorant pro also commented on the clip after it made the rounds on social media, calling out the developer again.
“I truly think top-of-the-line players should be using top-of-the-line gear, and that’s just a fact. Riot makes so much money from this game and it feels like they put the bare minimum back towards the esports scene,” TenZ wrote in a comment on the YouTube short.
TenZ and the rest of the pros competing at Valorant Champions 2024 will have to make due again with what they claim is sub-par gear while competing for international glory.
