A number of Valorant neighborhood members have stepped ahead alleging that Valorant’s North American tier 2 scene is crammed with rigged matches and cheaters, going so far as accusing a Riot worker of enabling gamers to make use of in-game cheats with out getting caught.
Distinguished caster and neighborhood member Sean Gares and Match Organizer/Crew Proprietor MrFunHaver are the 2 fundamental sources of this data, with MFH going into much more element throughout a two-hour livestream.
Each males claimed that there’s an ongoing investigation into the matter from Riot Video games and selected to not title particular groups or gamers who could also be concerned, partially out of concern that they’d accuse the improper individuals.Article continues after advert
Nonetheless, there’s a variety of data to glean out of what each Sean Gares and MFH needed to say, particularly because the two of them clashed when talking concerning the subject. Moreover, Riot has given Dexerto a full, in-depth response to the allegations, confirming that there’s an ongoing investigation and sharing early findings.Article continues after advert
NA Valorant tier 2 accused of being “underground playing ring”
Sean Gares’ transient video assertion got here out after MrFunHaver’s allegations. Gares claimed that he was investigating the matter for a very long time, however felt the necessity to converse out on it now largely resulting from MFH discussing it.Article continues after advert
“It’s contaminated. Matchfixing, dishonest, underground playing rings, individuals making a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars} on these video games which are rigged,” Gares claimed.
He stated that most of the groups working inside tier 2 are “determined,” resorting to getting cash from various means. The sum of money that may be made because of betting on video games is exponentially larger than successful by regular means.
“They’re getting bribed for tens of 1000’s of {dollars} in a single occasion to throw a recreation, might even be to repair a ranked recreation. No matter you do, they’ve acquired you by the balls. You already know why? They don’t go away, they will blackmail you for eternity. That’s how this recreation works.”Article continues after adArticle continues after advert
He expressed that he believes this course of finally punishes gamers who aren’t dishonest – people who find themselves “really doing it honest.”
“I’m not prepared to speak about what I’ve discovered. It’d take me hours. The rabbit gap goes so f**king deep, it’s insane. It’s infuriating, it truly is. I’m attempting to clear as many individuals as I can. I need individuals to be harmless.”
Nonetheless, this video is simply a part of the story. He spoke in obscure phrases partially resulting from not being able to launch his investigation on the time, however was prompted to take action when MrFunHaver went reside on Twitch talking on the subject.Article continues after advert
Sean Gares livid at MrFunHaver for breaking Valorant dishonest scandal
Gares got here into MrFunHaver’s Twitch chat, livid that he was talking concerning the topic.
“You might be an absolute f**king fool for saying this proper now,” Gares stated within the Twitch chat. “Naw, you might be really blowing open a case that I’ve been engaged on for over every week, when you cared you’ll shut your f**king mouth.”Article continues after advert
Sean Gares’ chat historical past in MFH’s Twitch stream
He went forwards and backwards with MFH, claiming that doing a stream speaking concerning the scenario loosely wouldn’t do something to unravel it, and that talking about it could make issues worse. “Wait ’til I drop the f**king hammer,” he threatened.Article continues after advert
Gares continued, “I don’t owe you f**ok all and what you’re saying proper now could be like 1% of what’s really occurring.” MrFunHaver claimed he had no concept that there was an investigation being labored on outdoors of Riot and apologized to him.
MFH claims that Gares went into his DMs after leaving the stream and despatched him this message:
“You f**king fool, what the f**ok are you doing? You’re really dumb as f**ok for saying this on stream, you don’t have any thought that you simply’re ruining an investigation, I hope I torch your complete f**king crew.”Article continues after advert
When you’d like full context on their dialog, right here’s a timestamped VoD full with the chat historical past to see each side of the trade that occurred over the course of a number of minutes.Article continues after advert
So, what did MFH really should say?
Riot accused of being paid off to allow dishonest
MrFunHaver’s accusations have been considerably extra targeted on problems with working inside tier 2, claiming that Riot is mishandling the league and severely underfunding it. He claims that this isn’t solely a part of the explanation why viewership is declining, it’s additionally why betting is allegedly an enormous concern.Article continues after advert
“Myself and my very own crew had individuals DM saying, ‘Hey, we need to pay you to throw your recreation,’” he claimed. “The provide was a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars}. And, whenever you have a look at this particular person’s betting historical past on these video games, they’re making 20-30 thousand {dollars} in revenue. It’s a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars}. It’s completely insane.”
In a league the place gamers are, at occasions, not paid sufficient to reside, it might be exponentially extra worthwhile to cheat if this have been true. Vietnam’s professional LoL league had this drawback in 2024.Article continues after adArticle continues after advert
Nonetheless, the largest bit of latest data that was delivered to gentle in his stream have been accusations in opposition to Riot themselves.
“There may be an energetic Riot worker that could be very excessive within the anti-cheat division being paid off to let individuals cheat,” he claimed.
“You may have particular person gamers who’re actively dishonest, and Riot workers learn about it, they usually’re being paid to not do something about it.”
And, whereas MFH didn’t consider anybody in tier 1 Valorant is dishonest, the truth that the successful crew inside the Challengers league ascends to tier 1 attracts into query the validity of which groups really make it out.Article continues after advert
Picture by Colin Younger-Wolff/Riot GamesG2, the crew that simply received VCT Americas Stage 1, entered the league by successful Challengers and ascending.
He levied a lot of different accusations towards Riot and the best way the scene is run, saying that underfunding impacts your complete league and is a part of the explanation why this concern exists within the first place.
He claimed that a few of the aspect streams for Challengers matches weren’t even run by precise individuals, however have been as a substitute only a replay consumer left on and noticed by AI moderately than an actual particular person, making it “unwatchable”.Article continues after adArticle continues after advert
MFH additionally claimed that Riot barely covers even the prize pool for tier 2, with nearly no different cash going to groups or the sustainability of the league.
“You possibly can’t belief Riot, you’ll be able to’t belief the TO, you’ll be able to’t belief something that’s occurring with Challengers, so there’s no cause to spend money on it.”
Sean Gares releases DMs
Every week after the preliminary set of allegations got here to gentle, Sean Gares launched an nearly hour lengthy video detailing the extent of matchfixing and exhibiting a few of the gamers and events concerned in rigging video games.Article continues after advert
Gamers practo and Teague revealed DMs from Bray, somebody who provided anyplace from $20-100k assured to throw matches. They screenshotted conversations as they have been occurring, with Bray telling them to delete messages and transfer to Telegram to make DMs disappear after they have been despatched to cowl their path.
Bray claimed to have a number of accounts throughout completely different sportsbooks, permitting them to make a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars} per match with out it being linked to 1 account. He informed gamers they’d be “driving lambos” in the event that they accepted his provide. The quantity they’d earn from fixing one match would usually be greater than gamers are paid in wage for a complete yr. This isn’t the one particular person he referred to as out for attempting to rig matches and bribe groups, both.Article continues after adArticle continues after advert
Blue Otter is the crew that got here beneath essentially the most hearth from Gares, with him claiming they have been fixing matches and dishonest.
They underperformed in opposition to Burger Boyz whereas beating Shopify Revolt Black, permitting for outcomes that have been in opposition to the percentages and would have paid out significantly better. Gares VoD reviewed each video games, claiming that he had definitive proof that Blue Otter’s members have been throwing deliberately in matches in opposition to Burger Boyz and dishonest in matches in opposition to Shopify to control the percentages and make a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars}.Article continues after advert
So, not solely is the betting on particular person matches probably damaging to the league, this loss in opposition to Blue Otter additionally price Shopify their spot within the Playoffs. In consequence, these gamers who deserved an opportunity at attempting to maneuver up into the tier 1 league have been disadvantaged of that likelihood if these allegations are true.
Aftermath of Sean Gares exposé
The ripple impact of Gares’ reporting has already been felt by means of the Valorant neighborhood, with Bob getting benched from FlyQuest’s Recreation Changers crew after his allegations got here to gentle. Article continues after adArticle continues after advert
We have been made conscious of accusations of compromised aggressive integrity in the direction of one in all our VALORANT GC gamers.We now have determined to bench the participant and will probably be utilizing a stand-in till we full an investigation of the scenario.— FLY RED (@FlyQuestRED) Could 24, 2025
Bob launched a press release of her personal on the subject, calling out Sean’s remedy of the scenario and claiming that he’s performed “irreversable defamation” to the picture of all gamers concerned.
“We perceive Sean Michael Gares’ said intention was to assist the scene. Nonetheless, the latest allegations have brought on irreparable harm to our gamers’ fame and careers. This harm has prolonged past the sport itself into our private lives and may have implications on our future endeavors,” she defined.Article continues after advert
She additionally stated that she deliberate for Riot to clear their names privately because of their inside investigation, claiming her innocence and planning to make a response refuting Gares’ claims in opposition to the crew.
Blue Otter has chosen to stay by their gamers till extra data involves gentle.
“We applaud Sean for attempting to make the scene a greater place by attempting to deliver problematic gamers into the sunshine, however we consider he missed the mark on this one,” they defined in a press release.Article continues after adArticle continues after advert
“We might be extraordinarily disenchanted if Honest and Bob are responsible of match fixing and can help any ruling that Riot Video games makes.”
In the meantime, the individuals he accused of fixing matches have threatened to sue him for it, sarcastically sufficient placing a guess on it.
Let’s place a guess [Sean Gares], $100,000. If you could find ANY proof that cash was exchanged between me and a participant for this so referred to as ‘match fixing’,” he claimed.Article continues after advert
“You say you like the sport however you’ve got slandered and implicated harmless gamers. In America, defamation is unlawful. There must be a category motion performed in opposition to you.”
Riot Video games responds to the allegations
A Riot Video games spokesperson has given Dexerto a direct and prolonged response to the allegations in opposition to them, claiming no wrongdoing from their anti-cheat crew. They vehemently denied that anybody internally was working to help with any attainable matchfixing.
Although the interior investigation remains to be underway, Riot says they’ve appeared into the matter and haven’t but discovered something indicating {that a} core member of their crew was concerned in any wrongdoing.Article continues after adArticle continues after advert
Right here’s the complete, unedited assertion from Riot VP of comms Joe Hixson:
“The latest allegations about North America Challengers have been beneath energetic investigation since they have been raised to us final week. Allow us to be clear: we take accusations like these extraordinarily severely and our Aggressive Operations, Anti-Cheat, and Esports Guidelines & Compliance groups have been completely analyzing the matter.
“We admire everybody who has raised considerations and offered data. Strategies {that a} Riot worker intentionally undermined aggressive integrity, nevertheless, symbolize an extremely severe accusation that may unfairly influence people personally and professionally. The claims raised to our anti-cheat crew are a part of this broader investigation, and we have now seen nothing thus far that signifies complicity or wrongdoing by any member of our anti-cheat crew.Article continues after advert
“Investigations require time and coordination as we conduct interviews and collect proof. We’ll observe established procedures completely and punctiliously, with out being influenced or pressured by exterior voices.”
He additionally had a message for us from the Esports Guidelines and Compliance crew, with them saying the next with regards to matchfixing:
“Safeguarding the integrity of our esports ecosystem is a shared duty between gamers, groups, event organizers, and Riot. If you’re approached with data associated to potential misconduct, we encourage you to protect any proof, report it to your crew League Officers or Riot, and keep away from partaking additional. Sustaining the integrity and equity of competitors is paramount, and we admire the neighborhood’s persistence and help as we proceed to deal with this matter comprehensively.”Article continues after advert
With that, we have now direct affirmation that Riot has launched a full investigation into the matter. Although it isn’t clear simply how lengthy it’ll take for the investigation to conclude, they’re working to resolve the problem and discover any potential wrongdoing as quick as attainable.
It’s value noting that, whereas Riot has responded to the preliminary set of allegations in opposition to their crew, they’ve been quiet since Gares’ video dropped as they undergo with their investigation.
