North American organization Sentinels may have inadvertently short-changed its players during Valorant Champions last year.
The team was originally slated to receive US$20,000 in prize money for placing 9th to 12th. But according to Jared “zombs” Gitlin, who has since been benched by the organization, the team only received half of that money.
Zombs initially said that Riot Games had deducted tournament expenses from the prize money owed to them, which included COVID-19 tests. As it turns out, he may have to blame Sentinels CEO Rob Moore for that, and not Riot.
Moore said in a TwitLonger post clarifying the situation that he had made an error in charging all expenses to the players’ winnings, which in turn reduced the payouts. The mistake has since been corrected and all players will be receiving additional money.
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The Sentinels CEO made an accounting error
Moore’s post came in direct response to zombs’ remarks on the Champions prize pool.
“I wanted to address zombs’ recent comments regarding the prize money from Valorant Champions,” he wrote.
“There were certain expenses deducted by Riot Games from the payout. Some related to player expenses but the majority related to COVID tests and hotel rooms for Sentinels staff. I misread the statement and charged all the expenses against the prize money, reducing the prize payouts by US$1,675.”
Zombs acknowledged the mistake, thanking Moore for addressing the issue on Twitter.
Having said that, the outstanding amount due to them may not make much of a difference to Sentinels’ players.
For starters, top Valorant players reportedly earn up to US$25,000 a month, and both zombs and Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan have splurged on luxury watches in the tens of thousands.
The four-figure sum remaining from the Champions prize pool appears like a mere drop in the ocean, unable to cover even the price of a single Rolex timepiece.
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