Riot Games mistakenly green lit Sinatraa’s return to Valorant

Sinatraa’s recently been attempting a comeback to Valorant, a move that has left fans divided on if the player should be welcomed back. This controversy was further inflamed recently when it was revealed that Sinatraa did not have to attend mandatory training for players.

After some controversy over this decision, an apology has been issued for Riot Games Sinatraa mistake and the way they’ve dealt with him. This is what’s happened and what it means for the player and game:

Riot Games Sinatraa Mistake – What Was the Apology For?

The Sinatraa controversy originally began when the player was accused of sexual abuse by his ex-girlfriend. The allegations included an audio recording of an alleged rape. An investigation was started into the player alongside him being suspended from competition. After a brief period off though, Sinatraa is now attempting to come back to pro esports. He’s already back with his old team and had even been featured on their YouTube.

The investigation into Sinatraa was essentially closed because of the player’s behavior. He refused to cooperate, and also made false statements and misrepresented facts to derail the entire investigation.

With a little time passed, Sinatraa is trying to come back to Valorant. He evenly released a statement showing his current status, which has really made things worse.

For context, this was the final determination I received from riot about my status. pic.twitter.com/l6TGolyIiZ

— Jay Won (@sinatraa) April 14, 2022

Sinatraa skips mandatory training

In the email that the player released, it’s clarified that he is ‘fully able to sign-up and play in VCT’. Included in the email too though, was the detail that a Riot employee was giving Sinatraa the go-ahead to skip some training. This training was to reaffirm ‘cooperating with investigations. Most would probably agree, that this is an area where Sinatraa wasn’t exactly up to scratch.

This email spurred controversy back up and reignited a lot of the debate. Riot was forced to respond to this, given that the controversy was basically of their making this time around. The esports president at Valorant released a statement on Twitter, claiming that the Competitive Operations Team was not aware of the email in the first place.

They claimed it was a ‘rogue member’ that incorrectly said that the mandatory training was not needed. In terms of what’s to happen in the future, he said:

“We have informed [Sinatraa] that contrary to that communication, and in accordance with the competitive ruling, he is required to undergo professional conduct training. The training will focus on conducting oneself as a professional, complying with rules and regulations, and complying with the investigation.’.

They also apologized to fans and said they hoped their new system for internal investigations will prevent problems in the future.

Sinatraa’s Future

This apology definitely addresses some things which had bothered a lot of Valorant fans. Riot seeming to bend the rules to accommodate a player who has been pretty hostile. However, it seems ridiculous to think that mandatory training will solve any problems here. It’s very unlikely that Sinatraa didn’t cooperate with the investigation into his sexual abuse because he was unaware that he had to. His behavior was pretty clear, and probably not from ignorance of what was right to do.

The apology for Riot Games Sinatraa mistake at least addresses the problem of him receiving special treatment. However, the training and this statement don’t go very far towards addressing the root problem.

Read next: Best Valorant players in 2023