We almost had a pretty big controversy on our hands, folks.
Sentinels player, Zombs, hit us with an on-stream rant about how Riot had taken thousands of dollars out of the VCT prize pool to fund their COVID protocols and “random costs of their tournament.”
Zombs made this statement a couple of days ago, and the internet took notice.
Fortunately for the players, it wasn’t all that it seemed. The Sentinels CEO responded with a statement, clarifying that the descrepency was a mistake from Sentinels, themselves, not from Riot Games.
Original clip of Zombs:
pic.twitter.com/BfVtRJOf0W
— Jake Lucky (@JakeSucky)
May 10, 2022
The interesting part is: would the players have ever gotten this money if Zombs hadn’t said this on-stream?
Sentinels won Masters Stage 2 in 2021, so it’s closing in on a year since they received the prize money in question.
Makes you think.
Wojciech Eandzzel/Riot Games
Regardless, taking any money out of the prize pool to fund tournament costs seems wrong.
What if FIFA, the NFL, or the UFC took money out of player salaries to fund the extra costs of competing during COVID? Doesn’t seem fair.
In the end, though, the story doesn’t seem as salacious as it did a couple of days ago. Sentinels made a mistake and didn’t pay their players enough.
Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they would have caught this mistake without Zombs saying anything…………
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