Loe Faria, the director of Riot Games’ VALORANT esports, has been heavily criticized after a joke on social networks. The VALORANT community was very upset, especially those in EMEA.
VALORANT community strongly criticizes Leo Faria
Yesterday, August 12, Riot Games unveiled the events during the off-season in the 2023 and 2024 seasons. The community was generally unhappy with the published schedule, especially the European community.
However, Leo Faria, responsible for VALORNAT esports worldwide, received the strongest criticism. Faria made a little joke in response to the question about the shortage of major events in Europe.
The joke goes wrong
Leo Faria posted the information about the upcoming EMEA OFF//SEASON schedule on his Twitter account. In response to that post, NRG Esports player Ardis “ardiis” Svarenieks asked him if any tournaments would be held in the region.
In a joking manner, Leo Faria responded as follows:
“EMEA will spend the offseason apparently polishing their trophies.”
Within seconds the community showed their dissatisfaction with such a rude answer. Both professional gamers and European fans were upset with Faria’s answer.
Leo Faria’s response to the lack of events in Europe in the off season
byu/vaIorant_fanboy_69 inValorantCompetitive
Complaints about the lack of VALORANT tournaments in Europe
For his part, Maryville Esports leader Adam “ec1s” Eccles voiced his complaints and commented that most of the events held in EMEA are concentrated in a specific area. On the other hand, ec1s commented that open qualifiers are held in other regions, such as North America. This allows all teams to participate regardless of their location.
Feels a little tone deaf, at least we have a trophy from 2021 to polish 🥲
Hoping there's more to come for EU as right now most of what was announced appears 'sub-region' locked and not open to the majority of EMEA https://t.co/EB949kwi7k
— ACE Krimson (@KrimsonAer) August 12, 2023
At the same time, Case Esports head coach Lucas Rojo commented that his team could only compete in events in Spain. This implies that this is a regional tournament and not an EMEA tournament. In the case of many teams, they will have to wait until the start of the 2024 season to be able to attend an event again.
Sir, I can only compete in the events of MY region. That being Spain. So it’s not EMEA. It’s only your regional events.
So please, I’m tired of all this twitter gibberish, start providing or your game won’t be suitable for people to invest in.
Stop joking and start working.…
— Lucas Rojo (@LucasRojo) August 12, 2023
At the same time, many teams feel that the downtime between seasons is a determining factor for tier-two teams to leave the competitive scene. In the off-season, there is no reason to field a team, as there are no trophies to win or tournaments to play. This is why many professional players lose their jobs in the off-season, which is unsustainable for the athletes.
For its part, the European level two competitive scene, despite having great talents, has been in a crisis to stay afloat on different occasions. As a result, both players and fans have been concerned about the future of level-two competitions in the region.