VCT EMEA cancelled matches shows us VALORANT regions are not built the same

In a series first, for the franchise, VCT EMEA Tech Pauses cancelled a match mid series, and cancelled an entire series due to frequent tech issues. Players and fans were NOT happy, but a larger problem looms behind it all as well.

VCT EMEA tech pauses are becoming a meme

Competitive VALORANT  matches have always been plagued with small tech pauses, and VCT organizers have to deal with these tempo killing, chair leaning momentum breakers showing up once every few series. Despite having consistent venues for their studios now, the various regions have had their fair share of problems.

EMEA has had this the worst of all the regions, sometimes they actually get VALORANT games interrupting their Tech Pauses with the amount of downtime in streams. Some of these tech pauses have been long enough that you can complete an entire match of Deathmatch or even Ranked before VCT gameplay resumes. Players have been incredibly vocal about their gripes with the setup in Berlin. They’ve been talking about it directly to Riot through the Players Council, but it has come to a head with the official cancellation of Map 2 between Team Liquid and Karmine Corp this past week.

For the last few series, the LAN issues have had so many problems on LAN that the players have been playing Online while at the arenas in Berlin, and even with that, the ping to said servers is lower than some players’ personal setups. Despite being Tier 1, the peak of VALORANT esports, it seems like the infrastructure truly isn’t at Tier 1 across all regions.

The time to speak out and complain is nigh

In its first year out of online, EMEA was constantly dealing with players spilling open containers of water to the point it became a community joke. But in today’s climate, players are just praying to make it through a series without any unforseen pauses. Its worth noting, if you’re new to Riot Games run events, players are unable to talk to each other during Tech Pauses. This is to prevent players from abusing Tech Pauses as additional Tactical Timeouts. This is why you’ll often see the players disengaged from the game, leaning back in their chairs or just generally keeping themselves busy while they wait.

But now, it has become a problem.

EMEA’s biggest name ripped the bandaid off with his tweet denouncing several problems with the region, which has opened the floodgates for other EMEA players to air their grievances with the hand they’ve been dealt.

Really long tweet about #VCTEMEA sorry

I'm really disappointed about the issues in our region so far, as people could have already seen from my previous reply

A lot of the issues we're dealing with now have been ongoing since the beginning of franchising. In the first year or…

— VIT Derke (@Derke) April 24, 2025

Tier 1 VALORANT regions are not built the same

Due to the nature of franchising, the different regions are beholden to different sponsorship obligations. While there are some consistencies across regions, like the Redbull Clutch, there’s a notable absence in the hardware department for EMEA. Where regions like the Americas proudly brandish their high power iBUYPOWER PCs, VCT EMEA only has INZONE as a hardware provider. A provider that is only responsible for the monitors. VALORANT has more intensive specifications than League of Legends, something that onsite staff seem have ignored when complaints have been lodged about the current setups.

The PCs that can comfortably run League at the Riot Games Arena Berlin cannot, as it seems, run VALORANT to the consistent high standard that other regions have been able to achieve. To onlookers, it might not be as obvious, player POVs when showing replay highlights are forced to have their FPS monitors off. This, in part, is to hide the differeences between regions for performance. This hasn’t stopped diligent players like Soulcas from scouring old footage before it was cottoned on to.

#VCTEMEA vs #VCTAmericas FPS on stage

Its hard to find clips of fps counters since we need them to be turned off but it just shows the huge difference emea has compared to other regions and its just a glimpse of a bigger issue we have with hardware.

Yes 250fps (sometimes lower)… https://t.co/M7LAZdSh39 pic.twitter.com/PyHcDl8sWv

— soulcas 𓆩♡𓆪 (@soulcas_) April 25, 2025

It really is disappointing that players are expected to perform at the top level for their careers without being given the same tools to do so across regions.

Yes, there are individual sponsor fulfillments, however at the bare minimum, the PCs that run the game should be standardized where possible so players are playing with the peak of what’s on offer. My heart goes out to the players in their rookie year that have made the jump from Tier 2 or elsewhere to be what should be their big break at the top of EMEA. Uprooting your life to move to and work in Berlin for what could be as little as 5 games in subpar circumstances can be the death of a career for these teams near the bottom of their leagues. EMEA certainly hasn’t played out as expected for its results, and you have to wonder in the back of your mind, “how much of that are the PC issues?”

What’s the point of buying the Classic Bundle if Riot can’t even bundle together a decent PC?