Riot Games has announced that its newest competition will kick off in early 2021 and will be called the Valorant Champions Tour.Â
The competition is a season-long global tournament featuring competitions in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. The tour will take place throughout the entire year before crowning a global champion at the end of 2021. The VCT will feature three levels of competition: Challengers, Masters, and Champions.
No official date has been given for the beginning of the tournament, but according to the press release obtained by WIN.gg, the event will kick off in early 2021.
In the Challenger events, teams from each region will compete to advance to the international Masters tournaments, which will then lead to the final tournament crowning a global champion in the Champions tournament. After teams advance to Masters, there will be three Masters events where top performing teams will earn points that will count towards qualification for a Champions event.
The final tournament will pit the top 16 teams from around the world against each other to crown a world champion.Â
“We’ve spent a couple of years now talking to players, teams, fans, prospective partners, and other stakeholders, and we’re extremely excited to launch our first official season.” Riot Games’ senior director of esports Whalen Rozelle said. “Our focus will be on elevating and showcasing the creative and talented players who are shaping this game across the globe. Fans and players both wanted high stakes competition, and that’s what the VALORANT Champions Tour is designed to do.”
Since this tournament is described as the first official season for Valorant, it can be expected that Riot intends to continue with this series going forward as the official esports structure for the game. Since Valorant launched, it has seen a need for official tournaments. Teams, players, and organizations started putting on tournaments almost immediately after the game’s beta was released, often with Riot’s support.
This announcement comes just before the conclusion of Riot’s First Strike tournament, which featured a series of merit-based qualifiers across the globe to crown the best teams in each region. The finale for First Strike is set to occur December 3-6, and the winning teams will be crowned the first official regional Valorant champions.Â
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