With the ambition to rapidly establish VALORANT as an Esports title, Riot Games has been collaborating with various organizations to enhance the tournaments for this game. However, the story of VALORANT is not as straightforward as it seems, as the We Play! Invitational, part of Riot Games’ Ignition Series, has been unexpectedly postponed due to suspicions of players using cheating software.
Specifically, according to information provided by Riot Games to Dexerto, they received highly credible reports about a team deliberately obstructing Riot’s anti-cheat team. Due to these suspicious behaviors, Riot Games has requested to postpone the event, maintain the results, and conduct an investigation into the problematic cases.
In fact, the We Play! organizers have even removed Team Nolpenki from the tournament roster during Riot Games’ review process. It is highly likely that this team is the one suspected of cheating. If it is found that Nolpenki indeed used hacks during the tournament, it would be inevitable for the players of that team to be permanently banned from VALORANT.
Hacking/cheating in VALORANT is not a new phenomenon, as even during the game’s testing phase, there were numerous reports of players cheating. However, while this was seen in casual matches, cheating is unacceptable in competitive play. Therefore, Riot Games developed the Vanguard system to support tournament integrity.
As of now, Team Nolpenki still appears on the tournament roster, and the We Play! organization has also stated that they are not cheating. Thankfully, the VALORANT tournament system of Riot Games has not encountered a “cheating scandal” at such an early stage.
