- Primary Subject: Valorant
- Key Update: Riot addresses concerns over the VCT stage layout after NRG's Ethan's controversial call during Champions 2025.
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: September 1, 2026
- Quick Answer: Jon Tillbury spoke with us about what Riot has done to address the community's concerns after last year's controversial Champions 2025 call.
The Stage 2 finals for VCT EMEA took place this past weekend in Barcelona, Spain, where Karmine Corp was crowned the champions in a 3-1 victory over Team Liquid.
At the event, I had the chance to speak with Jon Tilbury, the VCT EMEA's product lead at Riot Games. Among the topics discussed, I asked him about the community's concern over the VCT stage layout, especially after what happened in last year's Champions Paris.
As many will remember, during the upper bracket finals, NRG's Ethan called out to his teammate during a 1v1 that Fnatic's Alfajer was not moving his mouse, suggesting he was defusing the spike rather than faking it. Skuba listened to his IGL, peeked to get the kill, and NRG took the round.
When the comms clip of this round was posted, many fans started to wonder whether this should be considered cheating and if the current stage layout for VCT events is paving the way for these sorts of cracks in the competition's integrity.
With another edition of Champions approaching, I asked about what Riot is doing about it and whether the concerns around this subject have been taken into consideration. Jon stated: "Yeah, absolutely. Because it's a concern for us as well. The competitive integrity of the competition is always priority number one."
He then added, "You'll see there are changes that we've made in response to that, and actually some of them probably have been rolled out before. The screen is now along the edge of the desk to try to reduce the line of sight to the player's hand."
Jon also touched on the stage's lighting, as bright abilities can be spotted easily when a player's area is not properly lit. "We think very carefully about lighting as well, because we are also conscious that bright abilities on the screen, for example, can light things."
"It can be challenging to get all of those things right, and we probably haven't got it. I'm sure there are more things that we can do to improve. But we absolutely think about that," he expressed. "...we'll continue to make sure that we take measures to address anything sensitive."
READ MORE: Riot Games Needs to Stop Gatekeeping Valorant Mobile and Launch It Globally
Valorant Champions 2026 is scheduled to start this month on September 24 in Shanghai, China, with the finals taking place on October 18.
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