Riot Games pauses VCT LCQ matches due to safety protocols

Riot Games has paused Valorant Champions Tour North America: Last Qualifier games amid safety concerns.

The final chance for the region’s players to qualify for Valorant’s biggest event to date has been suspended for the time being to ensure player safety. Riot Games has confirmed that it would assess the conditions to continue LCQ without breaking Los Angeles safety protocol.

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— VALORANT Esports NA (@valesports_na) October 13, 2021

The inaugural Valorant Champions Tour is finally approaching its end.The best teams worldwide have already qualified for Valorant Champions, but the LCQ provides the last chance for the remaining squads to make it in. The event was set to take place in Los Angeles on LAN, but the publisher has been forced to cancel the matches due to Los Angeles’ updated health and safety protocols.

Riot Games has scraped off October 13 and 14 matches after receiving conflicting results in testing the participating players. The publisher is now working on figuring out ways to continue in-person events despite this setback. Riot’s head of esports Chris Greeley has revealed that the company needs time to settle on a plan.

“After receiving several conflicting test results, in an abundance of caution, we have decided to pause the competition for today while we evaluate how to safely resume the LCQ,” Greeley said.

Riot Games has already received heavy criticism from players and fans for taking the games to virtual servers despite this being a LAN event. Professional players came forward with complaints of unstable ping, technical issues, long hours spent waiting, and more with regards to their online matches, causing fans to criticize Riot’s management of the LCQ event.

It remains to be seen how many games will Riot scrape out until it finds a way to continue the LCQ games. For now, players with conflicting results have been barred from participating in LAN events, which has led to many complications. The developer already failed to arrange travel for the two Oceanic teams at the NA LCQ, which only added to fan frustration.

The LCQ is currently the most crucial Valorant event as it’s the last chance for teams to reach the brass ring that is the title of Valorant Champions. This is the last opportunity for FaZe Clan, XSET, Version1, Luminosity, Rise, Cloud9, 100 Thieves, and Gen.G to qualify for the final Valorant Champions North America.