Riot Games Launches Investigation into Prize Payouts to VRL Members

Riot Games is launching its own investigation into the payout of prize money to VRL members. The developers are currently trying to figure out why some teams are still owed prize money from regional leagues.

It all started with the fact that a few days ago, the Israeli organization NOM Esports, in response to accusations from its former players regarding non-payment of salaries, stated that the organizers of the VALORANT Regional Leagues East Surge had not yet transferred the prize money for participating in the series to the club.

According to Dexerto, Israeli esports organization NOM eSports owes nearly $10,000 to former VALORANT players. Sources said the club also failed to deliver on a number of promises made to the team, including a bootcamp ahead of the VALORANT Regional Leagues 2022 East: Surge Stage 2 playoffs.

Daniel Ringland, Head of Esports for VALORANT Europe and MENA, has since released a post explaining that Riot Games is looking into unpaid regional league prize money. “We are aware of and thoroughly investigating the situation,” he wrote.

VALORANT Regional Leagues East Surge, which included teams from Poland and Eastern Europe, was operated by independent operator FRENZY. The other six regions are Spain (LVP), France (Freaks 4U Gaming), UK, Ireland and Scandinavia (Promod Esports), MENA (Calyx Gaming), Turkey (ESA Esports) and the DACH region (Freaks 4U Gaming).

In a statement to Dexerto, tournament operator FRENZY stated that "internal procedural issues" were the cause of the unpaid prize money. The Polish company added that it is in contact with the affected teams and promised to resolve this situation by mid-September.