VALORANT Pro Attributes Widespread Technical Problems at VCT Champions to Outdated PCs

Is this not meant to be the most significant event of the year?

If you were curious about the technical interruptions during T1’s match against DRG in the VCT Champions Paris, professional VALORANT player Meteor has shed some light on the issue, which revolves around the outdated EMEA computers.

After the matches on September 14, Meteor, who participated in the VALORANT series, disclosed that the technical pauses were due to his computer not functioning correctly. He stated, «During the LOTUS pause, I kept mentioning that my PC was lagging, and we decided to pause. However, the tournament officials insisted I continue playing with the FPS stats displayed during Set 1. I could feel my PC struggling constantly, yet they still told me to continue. We paused and restarted the game once, and it appeared to work fine afterward,» he shared during a live stream on SOOP.

Although Meteor’s case was serious, it was resolved faster than the cause of a subsequent technical pause. He explained, «The second tech pause occurred when T1’s Dongho (DH) suddenly faced a crash in the middle of a round. It was just Demon1 left on their side while we still had three players alive, but all of a sudden, Dongho’s screen went blue. He rebooted and attempted to log back in, but couldn’t get past the login screen.»

Dongho’s PC faced a crash, rendering him inactive.

The technical team had to replace Dongho’s computer, but even the new system experienced errors and crashed multiple times. Eventually, Dongho managed to log in, but his gameplay began to lag just like Meteor’s. «We kept having to pause after each round… It was incredibly challenging. Concentration was nearly impossible with the PCs constantly malfunctioning!» Meteor explained.

This ongoing situation raises concerns regarding Riot’s capability to oversee a tournament of such significance and revives discussions about the ongoing hardware issues that have afflicted VCT EMEA since the season kicked off. Notably, Riot had taken various measures to upgrade problematic equipment and address infrastructure issues back in April 2025, during Stage One.

Curiously, Meteor remarked in a translated version of his stream that Riot had set up «older PCs» for VALORANT Champions Paris. It seems players are forced to contend with 240 Hz monitors and subpar specifications at what should be the premier VCT tournament of the year. The troubling aspect is that Riot had upgraded to newer PCs for the EMEA events but chose to downgrade for the Champions. Interestingly, Riot does not utilize the same PCs from regional competitions at global events, but in this instance, it would have been more beneficial to maintain the superior regional setups instead of reverting to their «global fleet.»

Riot has yet to address the ongoing situation, but both fans and players are expressing their frustration regarding the level of production in EMEA over the past couple of years. While other VCT regions have their own issues, they do not seem to be as noticeable as those within EMEA.

With VALORANT Champions Paris at its early stages and the group stage along with the entire playoffs ahead, it is hoped that conditions will stabilize going forward, enabling teams to focus on their competitions.