Riot Games has announced that Philippines-based VALORANT esports team Bren Esports is no longer competing in VALORANT Masters Berlin due to travel visa issues affected by restrictions for the COVID-19 pandemic.
The No.1 seeded Southeast Asia VALORANT team were unable to acquire the mandatory visas to travel from the Philippines to Germany to compete in the international LAN tournament that's set to take place on September 10 to 19.
Due to the rising cases of COVID-19 pandemic and the Delta variant in the Philippines, travel restrictions have been tightened. In an official statement Alex Francois, head of competitive VALORANT esports, said that Riot tried to find a solution and reached out to relevant government agencies in Philippines and Germany, but they couldn't find a solution before the deadline.
"Ahead of Masters Berlin, Riot Games worked to secure the required travel permissions for every qualified tea. Unfortunatey, with tightening travel restrictions around the world due to changing COVID-19 developments, we were unable to secure the necessary travel visas for Bren Esports, the number one seeded team from Southeast Asia," Riot stated. "Over the past month our global mobility teams in North America, Europe, and Asia explored multiple avenues to find a solution, including engaging with relevant governmental agencies in the Philippines and Germany. But at this time, having passed the final deadline that would allow Bren Esports to travel and attend the event, we are going to proceed with a 15 team tournament."
With Bren Esports out of the tournament, Masters Berlin will only have 15 teams competing, and Riot went on to explain that the format of the tournament will be modified and Group D, where Bren Esports was placed, will be changed to double round robin, with the top two teams advancing to the Elimination Stage.
"This was a tough decision and we share in the disappointment of our players and fans," Francois said. "Despite this setback, we are proud of Bren Esports' achievements in VCT so far and look forward to their participation in future events."
Prior to the statement, the hashtag #BringBRENToBerlin topped Twitter trends on Friday, and Bren Esports posted a sad face emoji and the #BringBrentToBerlin hastag in two now-deleted tweets.
Bren Esports won the VCT Challengers - SEA playoffs, beating Singapore squad Paper Rex in the finals, 3-0 to take the #1 spot in SEA region.
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VALORANT Masters Berlin will take place at Verti Music Hall in German capital Berlin on Sept. 9 to 19.
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