Valorant pro players have earphones stolen at VCT LOCK//IN
Colin Young-Wolff/Riot GamesA number of Valorant players have had their in-ear headphones stolen in the practice rooms set up by Riot Games for VCT LOCK//IN.
During official LAN matches, it is required for players to use both in-ear monitors and a pair of noise-canceling headphones over them to prevent teams from hearing anything outside of the game.
The in-ears are generally owned by the players, and the headphones are often provided by the tournament organizer. This not only happens in Valorant, but any other esport match played on LAN.
So having your in-ears stolen hours before a match is a bit of a disaster, and that happened to Gen.G players Lee ‘k1Ng’ Seung-won and Kim ‘Secret’ Ha-jin’s earphones at the VCT LOCK//IN event.
Right before the team’s match against the Brazilian powerhouse LOUD, k1Ng tweeted out a photo of the soundcard in his team’s practice room at the Ginásio do Ibirapuera with a caption bluntly saying, “someone stole my earphone.”
He revealed to The Enemy that the in-ears had cost him $200. He says he has already reported the incident to Riot Games, who said they may not be able to find the earphones and advised him to buy another pair.
In k1Ng’s Tweet, fans asked if there were any security cameras in the practice rooms, to which he responded with, “no camera in rooms. I’m so sad.” However, it’s quite clear he wasn’t too torn up about his missing in-ears as he told his Twitter followers he is okay and will buy another pair when he gets back to South Korea.
k1Ng later revealed that he wasn’t the only player to have something stolen during VCT LOCK//IN. According to him, someone also took his teammate Secret’s earphones.
Gen.G’s match against LOUD did not end up in their favor as they lost the match by a 2-0 scoreline. And due to the single elimination format of the LOCK//IN tournament, Gen.G are now going home.
On February 19, another player revealed that his earphones had also been stolen. This time it was David ‘Tehbotol’ Monangin of team Rex Regum Qeon, who will play their first VCT LOCK//IN match on February 23 against FUT Esports.
Riot Games has not yet publicly commented on this wave of thefts, which has been described by many Brazilian fans on Twitter as an embarrassment.
