ZETA DIVISION suspends takej for three months for boosting streamers

ZETA DIVISION has suspended Shogo “takej” Takemori and one of the organization’s streamers, Takaaki Natsushiro, for three months following an investigation that found the professional VALORANT player was boosting other streamers with an alternative account owned by Natsushiro, according to a statement released by ZETA DIVISION Friday, Oct. 1.

“We are pleased to inform you that the players and streamers belonging to this team are involved in the play that impairs the fairness of the game,” the statement said through a machine translation.

The investigation and its following punishments were conducted by ZETA DIVISION internally, not through VALORANT developer Riot Games. The three month suspension also stipulates that takej and the streamer will be barred from social media and public appearances with the organization.

ZETA DIVISION competed at the most recent VALORANT Champions Tour Masters in Berlin, where they finished in last place. The team were slated to compete in the Asia-Pacific Last Chance Qualifier for the opportunity to compete in VCT Champions in December, but pulled out to focus on 2022 and to restructure their team.

ZETA DIVISION’s ruling on takej

The timeline of events, according to the statement, is that takej used an alternate account, from streamer Takaaki Natsushiro, to play VALORANT with two other streamers not affiliated with ZETA DIVISION, to boost their ranking.

“Based on the found circumstances, as a result of reporting the situation to Riot Games and discussing the response, as a team, both Takaaki Natsushiro and takej violated the terms of service established by Riot Games, and we have determined that we were found to have been involved in a play that compromised the fairness of the game,” the statement said.

In addition to the suspension from public appearances, streaming and social media, both players involved in the incident will have their wages docked over those three months. This is the second incident of boosting in the Japanese region recently as Crazy Raccoon, the other Japanese representative at Masters Berlin, suspended two of their streamers for similar charges Wednesday, Sept. 29.