Riot Games have suspended Dominatus Jade and all of its players from playing in their official tournaments, including the Valorant Game Changers 2023 APAC Open Series, for violating the age requirement.
Riot Games was informed by the Game Changers 2023 tournament’s organiser, FSL, that the Dominatus team reportedly faked Sphyxii’s personal information while registering for the VCT Game Changers 2023 APAC Open 1. The organisers conducted a review and found out that Sphyxii’s personal identification was invalid. Dominatus then admitted Sphyxii was actually 13 years old when she entered the Game Changers competition, thus violated one of Riot’s main rules, which states that “no player shall be considered eligible to participate in any Game Changers competition before their 16th birthday, defined as having lived 16 full years.”
As a consequence of the violation, team Dominatus Jade and its players, who included Bella, Sinoo, Chimochi, and Jean, are barred from competing in the circuit for the next seven months. This suspension will last from the commencement of the Game Changers Open 1 competition in March until October 2023. Additionally, Sphyxii is prohibited from any circuit until she reaches the age of 16.
According to the recent reports, Dominatus Jade’s squad was disbanded following Game Changers Open 1. The penalty, however, appears to have impacted Dominatus’ primary team, who finished Valorant Challengers Indonesia Split 2 last week. Riot stated that they decided to impose a probation on Dominatus to ensure no further violations in the future. Riot has not yet provided detailed information regarding this probation.
Issues regarading the minimum age for Valorant players in Indonesia are nothing new from Riot Games. In December 2020, Riot, via organiser One Up, prohibited Thomas “Cud” Alfiantino, who had just joined the Morph team, from competing in the Valorant First Strike because he was only 14 years old.
