The head of VCT Pacific responds to ongoing allegations of competitive integrity

Jake Sin, Head of VALORANT Esports Pacific, addressed the recent allegations affecting the competitive integrity of VCT Pacific, raised by players and coaches.

He confirmed that Riot Games is investigating the matter since the complaints were made public.

“We take these claims very seriously, as they concern the competitive integrity of our league, and are therefore investigating them as fully as possible,” Sin is mentioned on X (Twitter). “While I understand it can be frustrating not to see immediate action, please bear with me as we carefully assess the situation.”

He also stressed that any potential violations should be reported directly to Riot Games with “substantial evidence.”

“It is very important to us that our members feel free and safe to raise concerns,” Sin said. “However, it is equally important that any allegations of breach of competitive integrity are reported directly to the department’s officers with concrete evidence so that we can work closely together to address them effectively and swiftly.”

Concerns began following the VCT Pacific Kickoff Lower Final between RRQ and Paper Rex. After the end of the game, RRQ player Maksim’Jemkin‘ Batorov spoke about a number of issues regarding tournament officials and the application of the rules.

“I feel like we have to adjust the way the managers work in this Kickoff, for example, in our first game [Upper Final]Nongshim arrived 18 minutes late, and there are no penalties,” he said.

Jemkin also spoke about T1 allegedly breaking the rules without facing punishment.

“I don’t care if I’m not allowed to say it, but they do.” [T1] always smoke or vape in bathrooms. The players have never received penalties, but if one of us goes to smoke somewhere, we will always be punished for that,” he added.

In addition, according to him, Paper Rex players are allowed to change their agent songs twice during the Lower Final.

“Firstly they chose the wrong agent, secondly they chose wrongly [PRX] forgot to turn on Veto. “Before that, every game, the managers told us that if we didn’t open the Veto, it was always our fault, and we would get a penalty,” explained Jemkin.

He then suggested that there are groups that are said to be receiving special treatment.

“Sometimes the racism, even if I don’t know the name, is a little crazy in Korean groups and in well-known groups,” concluded Jemkin.

The Russian player also publicly asked Jake Sin to ‘fix the headsets’, saying the players could hear the Korean broadcasters word for word during the matches. However, that tweet has since been deleted.

The discussion was rekindled again after the topic was raised during Andrej’s 50th episode.babybayFrancisty’s SpikeTalk, featuring Global Esports coach Hector ‘FrosT’ Rosario.

Frost explained that when Tyson’TenZ‘Ngo or Nikita’Derek‘ Sirmitev raises concerns, their teams (VCT Americas and VCT EMEA) reacted in a very different way compared to how VCT Pacific handled the situation.

“Instead of listening to a player who doesn’t usually talk and voice his frustration, they go, ‘take that document down, sweep it under the rug,'” Frost said. “This thing is Mickey Mouse, and I don’t care to fight it anymore.”

Speaking about the smoking allegations, FrosT revealed that former RRQ coach Martin ‘.Wow‘ van der Walt was similarly punished.

“T1 is very special. Trust me when I say T1 is very important. The popularity here for T1 is crazy,” he said.

During the interview, Ko’s photo ‘Sylvan‘ Young-sub didn’t put his earphones on the stage properly and it was raised up, which may lead to the actors hearing the caster’s cry.

“It’s in a lot of different games, and I can show some pictures. I don’t care,” FrosT added.

Many other issues were brought up during the interview, such as coaches being able to see the crowd, illegal team draws, and managers protecting certain teams.

With many concerns expressed in VCT Pacific, Jake Sin’s response to these allegations seems to aim to provide clarity to teams and fans alike ahead of Phase 1 which begins on April 3.