Hello Esports fans, this is Seoha Yoon, Esports Director at Nimble Neuron. 

First of all, I would like to apologize for the discomfort caused by the round point forfeitures applied to participating teams during the Lumia Rivals Cup: Asia tournament this past weekend, as well as the vague explanations provided regarding the decision. Although the news is unfortunate, I felt it was right to address you directly through a live stream to offer a quick explanation and proper apology.

In Round 6 of the Lumia Rivals Cup Grand Finals, we determined that Team hana from EJC and Team Crimson Bunflies from APAC GP engaged in gameplay that could be seen as contrary to the spirit of fair play, leading us to forfeit all points earned by both teams in that round. We based this decision to apply such a heavy penalty on two specific moments.

For Team Crimson Bunflies, during Night 6 in the Chapel area, they used a VLS gadget to activate the objective, but then deployed an additional VLS gadget for another team to use. This stood out as the key moment. Considering their overall gameplay throughout that round, we determined there was intent to assist a specific team.

For Team hana, in the moment immediately after eliminating Team YJ Wheres, they showed no intention of eliminating Team Crimson Bunflies' Eleven, who was downed, leading us to judge that both teams were intentionally aiding each other's play. In fact, intentionally leaving an opponent to reset or actively assisting them was a scenario planned as a detailed example in the Season 12 Esports rulebook. However, in this case, Team hana consistently explained that moving to a safe zone first was a strategically superior choice, given that the Warehouse area where the play occurred was soon becoming a Restricted Area. We found this explanation fully convincing, and I acknowledge that my ruling was clearly a misjudgment on my part. I sincerely apologize to Team hana for impacting their tournament performance. I am truly sorry. 

Regarding Team hana's final result, we will re-verify the rank they would have achieved based on their actual earned points without the Round 6 forfeiture and award them the corresponding prize money as compensation. Please note that this calculation will not affect the prize money already awarded to other teams. Their final rank will also be re-aggregated without the round forfeiture applied. We know this compensation cannot fully make up for all the effort the players poured into this tournament. With this experience as a turning point, we promise to focus on building more reasonable tournament rules, and we will undergo more careful procedures when making decisions to ensure such misjudgments do not happen again. Once again, I am truly sorry.

As mentioned in the Dev Journal following the Season 11 Masters Finals, we have been working to refine areas in the Esports rulebook that were somewhat vague. The enforcement standards differed before and after the Masters Season 11 Finals because of internal feedback emphasizing the need to set strict standards for the points outlined in the Dev Journal. The round point forfeiture applied this time was actually one type of penalty slated for inclusion in the upcoming rulebook updates.

What we intended to communicate in the Dev Journal was that formal definitions of forbidden actions would be applied in the rulebook in Season 12. However, contrary to our intent, miscommunication occurred, leading to the impression that strengthened rules themselves would only take effect starting in Season 12. Furthermore, because the Dev Journal was posted only in Korean, global players were unaware of the situation, which compounded the misunderstanding.

Regarding the three new tournaments introduced this season (ER Japan Championship, ER Series China, and APAC Grand Prix), participating teams encountered the Checkpoint format for the first time, leading to various situations along the way. When moments that could look like teaming occurred, we provided direct feedback advising that such play is not permitted in tournaments. Since defining every boundary clearly in the rulebook was difficult, we believed giving direct feedback would be more helpful to teams experiencing Checkpoint matches for the first time. During EJC and APAC GP, no major concerns arose, so no warnings were issued. In the ESC tournament, however, we held a separate session to explain these boundaries and issue warnings. As a result, we felt players in that region were able to grasp where the boundaries lay more quickly. 

Clearly distinguishing between unacceptable play and permissible play within a written rulebook is a genuinely difficult task. The exact same action can be allowed in one context and not allowed in another. As long as human judgment influences decisions, the possibility of a misjudgment, like the one I made, will always exist.

First, we will refine our core rules as much as possible. For areas requiring human judgment, we will build a system where external referees and multiple staff members discuss and reach decisions collaboratively to ensure the most reasonable outcome possible.

Teaming in battle royale games is always a sensitive subject, and setting clear boundaries becomes even more critical when using special formats like the Checkpoint rule. While it is unlikely that rulebook updates can be reduced to exact numerical metrics, such as penalizing teams for staying near each other for a set number of seconds, we believe it is possible to set a clear directional baseline that keeps tournament competition running smoothly.

We will organize all future changes thoroughly and share them with you again through upcoming Season 12 Esports announcements, as well as Esports reviews and previews.

We will do our best to serve you better with improved operations in the future.

Thank you.