Masters Tokyo ticket refunds; ZETA drama

In recent days, discussions regarding ticket refunds have gained momentum on Twitter following ZETA's loss three to five days ago.
https://twitter.com/paaaas33/status/1660612620519628800

Based on my observations, a significant number of tweets indicate that many people are considering refunding and reselling their tickets due to ZETA's defeat. However, there are also those who are voicing their support for the event and urging people to attend.
https://twitter.com/SpiNizzz/status/1660458899613573120

Scalpers are selling tickets for 700+ USD {Refer to the tweet above (I don't even know who is buying that)}. Ticket scalping or reselling has been a persistent issue in Japan, typically noticeable during the release of popular movies. It is not surprising that scalpers are attempting to profit from this event as well but the problem is that the attendance of the event is kind of unpredictable right now. Resellers are only contributing to the problem more.

Meanwhile, there are people who sympathize with those seeking refunds. Criticizing those opting for refunds is not my intention. Their viewpoints hold objectivity.
https://twitter.com/omuomu0527/status/1660601983932456964

I wholeheartedly agree with a particular post that emphasizes the reliance of ZETA (and possibly other JP teams) on tactics of the idol industry. They sowed this, now they're reaping. I wanted to make a post about ZETA turning the eSports scene into idol business, but that's a different topic for another day.
https://twitter.com/6theBrave/status/1660599228228579330

Now, the question arises: how crazy are ZETA fans? Following ZETA's loss against T1, cr0w threw an important round, most important probably, which instantly cost us the entire game, the player in question understandably faced some criticism on Twitter. However, the criticism remained relatively mild as the majority of fans expressed their unwavering support. Certain fans took screenshots of critical tweets and resorted to threatening to report them to the ZETA management team for defamation, which made them delete the tweets :/

So.... yes, things are not looking good. Refer to the tweet about ZETA using idol tactics. Most of their fans are fangirls too. They have created such a situation.

Despite what others are saying, I believe that Grand Finals and semi finals will have a crowd no matter what. FNATIC games will also have a sizeable audience because of FNATIC JP, they have a lot of support. Same with DRX, LOUD. But those are only a few games. It remains uncertain how other games will fare. If anything, the impact will likely be felt primarily by online viewership.

Had ZETA played and experienced an immediate defeat, the situation may have been more manageable. However, the absence of their participation, combined with fan dissatisfaction over the lack of a host country slot, has made the situation much more worse.

i read allat, thanks for sharing

this is very well written!

allat

👍

While I like the writing of this piece, it seems to blame zeta for the potential loss of fans. Everyone who bought tickets knew the risk that zeta may not make it, and now they have to find their own solution. This is in no way zetas fault, and I think it's kinda weird and annoying to blame the org or the players

Dfm rn: 💀

If they want a refund I don't think they should be blamed for that

noticed the idol treatment too after zeta issued a statement asking fans not to wait outside their building (?). but i dont think it's exactly a bad thing and it's kinda same as back in sao paulo where brazil/loud get so much audience in their games while others dont. it's just the nature of the fanbase. the refunds are sad but they are entitled to it what can we do.

Riot should have given 1 slot to Japan and only 1 to China

but i thought this only happens in contries like brazil

refund is one thing m

but scalpers selling tickets for 700+ is absolutely disgusting

every event in brazil no matter the type has scalpers, everyone hates them but it is what it is, at least they dont sell it absurdely expensive like this

oh wow $700

Honestly I find it quite dumb from Riot to host an event in a country and not inviting a team from that country to participate, I feel like a free slot should be given to whoever country you're hosting, it already happened with Turkey and now Japan.

Even the WC allowed Qatar to participate since it was held in Qatar

Ain't reading allat but thanks for the information have a nice day

Imagine If this situation happened in Brazil ☠️☠️☠️☠️

zeta fans = loud fans
but
loud prove something they have 2022 champion
meanwhile zeta........

also i dont get it how they still loyal for a year after bad performence, a lot teams japan ascension could clear zeta

and the crucial part

ZETA turning the eSports scene into idol business

i wish they do tickets in two stages, one stage for public, and another for each team fanbase, equally distributed quota for each team. made it easier for ppl traveling long distances wanting to see their team perform too

Is this similar to the case with Brazilian fans?

They are letting some random chinese teams in

just let zeta play LUL

Curious 🧐. i was told japanese fans are the best because they support every team and they will fill up the arena every game 🤔

I think the only thing that needs to be said here is entitlement, it's a competitive sport where the best teams get through, just because your team didn't end up getting through doesn't give u the right to refund or resell tickets, you knew the risks of zeta not being there when u bought the tickets and if u didn't then I'd argue you shouldn't just presume your team will get through

Onto the second point, did u seriously want riot to just completely ruin all competitive integrity they have left purely to get a Japanese team into the Japanese Masters, i think a good point to make here is that respect is not given it is earned, in this circumstance, If u genuinely knew that riot rigged the games to make sure zeta made it through purely because they are good for representation, would that really make u proud to support them?

I just don't understand the expectation, did they just expect zeta to get through because they were Japanese? that isn't how it works, the reselling tickets is fair enough in my eyes, I'd do it anyway but only if I legitimately cannot go, if u bought them why not just go anyway it'd be a sick ass experience and event that most people don't even get to experience, So once again I circle back to entitlement.

I read allat

Classic riot messing up LANs. Why would they not give a host country slot

threatening to show any criticism to zeta's management team is crazy 💀💀💀

Extremely well written! Thank you! Some notes to make-

I'm not surprised by this outcome; this is common behavior by most regions to my knowledge. Some people have a favorite team that they hinge their entire viewership on, and if they don't make it, they don't see a point in watching. However, because it is set in Japan which is more isolated compared to a tournament held in, for example, Europe, there's a larger amount of domestic ticket buyers meaning more people who are there for their home country which is not attending. If there was a tournament in Germany, neighboring countries could easily buy tickets and attend but Japan is isolated meaning that cannot be the case for this tournament.

I agree with #40 that it does seem to me slightly entitled to not enjoy an event that you already bought tickets for just because a team you like doesn't qualify, especially considering you bought them before knowing that outcome. This can come down to there obviously being limited seating in the Arena, and you don't want it to sell out on the chance that ZETA does qualify, however you should know the risks. In my opinion, there are many teams and regions in the game, and I feel it's easy to find individual players or teams you enjoy outside of your region. For example, I am a big fan of the Liquid roster as well as the LOUD roster even though I am in America. It's obviously more enjoyable and fun to root for the hometown heroes, but basing your entire enjoyment of the game off how a singular team is doing will only end up causing disappointment most times as your team will not always win. (RIP Loud beating Fnatic in Brazil.)

ZETA capitalizing on an "Idol" culture for their team is actually a fantastic idea and probably nets them a lot of money compared to other organizations. It's a solid revenue model and I think a lot of orgs really should be taking notes. I wouldn't be surprised if they are one of the more "profitable" organizations due to building up this culture and strong fanbase. However, you can see the results of this are that the fans are fanatic and clingy to the team, similar to many physical sports outside of eSports.

I do hope this situation ends up not affecting the tournament too negatively. I am very much looking forward to it, and I agree with the sentiment that if the audience does this and the attendance is not up to par, Riot has many other options in the future for hosting their tournaments.

Zeta isnt even that good. No way that they expected Zeta to qualify. Would have been a huge upset if zeta would have qualified so they had to know that zeta probably dont makes it tokyo before buying the tickets

Very good insight, I was curious why all of a sudden these ZETA members suddenly embracing this celebrity/idol lifestyle instead of just being a normal professional players that keep improving despite having a good result after that Reykjavik 2022 run. I do agree that the org is at their fault here for embracing more of this idol lifestyle culture for the members instead of just let them being a normal professional player which I assume it's the same with most of the Japanese orgs such as FL or CR on how they set up the culture for the players. This kind of problem is also why I believe that VALORANT esports still doesn't have that much dedicated fanbase compared to other esports like Counter Strike or Dota2 where they mainly watch the esports for the gameplay and not because of a certain team participating.

"If you continue doing what you're down now, you'll live a comfortable life. you'll retire peacefully and eat good food, live in a big house and marry an idol

but you'll never be worth more than a B-tier duelist"

L japanese fans, even if this event is held in India, it will be very crowded with Indian fans even though there are no Indian teams competing