Riot Games re-opening Team Griffin investigation

Following the release of Team Griffin head coach Kim "cvMax" Dae-Ho over physical and verbal abuse from the coach, as well as “unfair contracts” that were given to players from the organization, Riot Games is considering handing down a harsher penalty.

After suspending Griffin coach cvMax and fining the team $100,000 for their role in numerous allegations from former players, Riot Games is now considering removing the team from competing in LCK in 2020 entirely, following the conclusion of the developers' second investigation into the Korean League of Legends matter.

Releasing a follow-up statement to their November 20th investigation, Riot Games has since walked back their “indefinite” punishment of Kim ‘cvMax’ Dae-ho and will now consider a different approach. “The committee accepts that it has not earned the trust of the players on the fairness on the penalty that was applied to Kim [cvMax] Dae-ho,” Riot said in its statement. “We have decided to postpone the penalty that was previously issued on cvMax.” cvMax will now be allowed to return to coaching for DragonX, following his move to the organization earlier this month.

The turn of events comes after public outcry over cvMax’s suspension led to an online petition that accumulated over 200,000 signatures in support of cvMax which was also addressed to the office of South Korea president Moon Jae-in asking for government support on the issue. Riot Games also apologized to the former Griffin head coach and the League of Legends community for the developers' mishandling of the situation. Riot will now as a “trustworthy external party” to oversee the new investigation.

The news comes after a week that saw three players announce they would be leaving Griffin, as well as Still8, Team Griffin’s parent company, announced that they would be dissolving the contracts of all remaining players and allow them to become free agents.

While it’s unclear how this matter will eventually be settled, it’s clear that Team Griffin, as well as its parent company Still8, will be under intense scrutiny moving forward and will likely be forced to abide by a restructured set of guidelines handed down by Riot Games in the future.