Riot Games has made wired mice mandatory for every player at Valorant Champions 2026 in Shanghai. The rule follows more than a week of mouse interference, input stutter and technical pauses during matches. Riot traced the problems to metal parts in the custom player desks, and those desks are now being replaced.
Riot also admitted that a round in the FUT Esports vs 100 Thieves series should have been replayed. The match result will still stand.
What caused the Valorant Champions 2026 technical issues
Riot’s technical team found that metal components inside the custom stage desks were interfering with players’ peripherals. Wireless mice were affected the most. Players reported missed inputs, stutters and mice that stopped responding during live rounds.
Leo Faria, Riot’s Global Head of Valorant Esports, explained the cause in a statement. He said “some specific metal components on the construction of the desks were causing the mouse interference issues,” and added that Riot had “implemented a temporary fix” and was “rebuilding the desks entirely,” as reported by Dot Esports.
Timeline of the mouse problems at Champions Shanghai
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| September 25 to 26 | Players first report mouse and input problems in opening matches |
| September 26 | Riot finds the desk material is the cause and applies a temporary fix |
| September 30 | FUT Esports vs 100 Thieves sees four technical pauses on Split, plus a weapon that would not fire |
| October 1 | Riot makes wired mice mandatory, admits a rollback error and confirms the desks will be replaced |
Which teams and players were affected
The problems started in the first days of the event. Kim “Francis” Mu-bin of Nongshim RedForce said he could not play at full capacity against NRG. Nikita “trexx” Cherednichenko of Team Liquid reported ongoing issues on day two against Paper Rex, the same team that went on to face G2 Esports at Champions. Burak “LêwN” Alkan of Karmine Corp fixed his problem by switching to a spare mouse.
After the temporary fix, the first reports eased. On September 30, the problems came back during FUT Esports vs 100 Thieves.
The FUT vs 100 Thieves round that should have been replayed
In round two on Split, FUT’s Yusuf “xeus” Doğan Gözgen was in a 2v1 with a Spectre and a full magazine. His weapon would not fire. He died and FUT lost the round. Admins did not roll the round back.
The Split map alone had four technical pauses. 100 Thieves won the series 2-0, and FUT dropped to the lower bracket. 100 Thieves came into Champions after they won Valorant at the Esports World Cup 2026.
After the match, xeus said “that round was 100% ours but there was no rollback.” He also reported sound problems and PC freezes. FUT’s in-game leader yetujey skipped the post-match press conference and said, “I don’t want to be disrespectful to you guys, but I don’t care about Riot, so I will not join this,” according to Hotspawn.
Riot’s statement and the wired mouse rule
Riot responded with a statement and three changes:
“The experience at Champions so far has not met the standards we expect for players or fans.”
On the FUT round, Riot said: “Following an official post-game evaluation, we concluded that a round rollback should have been allowed. We take responsibility for that error.”
Riot said it would not reverse the result. Its reasoning was that 100 Thieves won under the same stage conditions as FUT.
| Change | Details |
|---|---|
| Wired mice mandatory | All players must use a wired mouse for the rest of the event |
| Desk replacement | Custom metal desks are being swapped for desks made of other materials |
| Match results | The FUT vs 100 Thieves result stays as it is |
What this means for the rest of Valorant Champions 2026
Valorant Champions 2026 has 16 teams, four from each international VCT league: Americas, EMEA, Pacific and China. Several big names did not make the cut, and Fnatic missed Champions through VCT EMEA. It is also the last Champions of the franchise era, because VCT moves to an open qualifier format in 2027.
The wired mouse rule applies for the rest of the event. Players who normally use wireless mice will have to switch for their remaining matches.
