Women-only FTW Summer Showdown event added to Ignition Series

Nerd Street Gamers and Riot are teaming up to host an all-women Valorant tournament that sports a $50,000 prize pool.

The event will take place September 11 to 13. The For The Women Summer Showdown is a part of the Ignition Series, which is a global series of tournaments created by Riot Games in partnership with many different organizations. FTW is a resource group dedicated to connecting, supporting, and inspiring the growth and advancement of women in gaming.

This isn’t the first Summer Showdown tournament. FTW recently ran an invitational tournament that had a $10,000 prize pool. This tournament is being structured similarly, with eight amateur, professional, and content creator teams. The amateur teams were chosen on September 5 when GALorants, a women’s Valorant Discord community, held a qualifier where four additional team spots were up for grabs. 

Women-only tournaments have been on the rise in recent years, with many becoming annual events. Organizations such as DIGNITAS, Counter Logic Gaming, and Gen.G have added all-female teams to their rosters, and there has been an increase in women playing at the highest levels of esports. The DIGNITAS Female squad will be competing in the FTW Summer Showdown, as will multiple former members of the CLG Red team.

In a press release, FTW states it’s working closely with Nerd Street Gamers to “help foster a dynamic amateur-to-pro pipeline, furthering its mission to champion an inclusive space for women and their allies.” 

“Competing as a female in games is a daunting task for many reasons, so when we heard of Nerd Street Gamers’ and Spectacor Gaming’s FTW Summer Showdown, we knew we wanted to throw our support behind the tournament and elevate it to the level of our Valorant Ignition Series,” said Anna Donlon, executive producer of Valorant at Riot Games.

Competition will begin on September 11 and can be watched on the Nerd Street Gamers Twitch channel. The tournament starts with group-stage play and all matches are best-of-one. Playoffs are an eight-team single-bracket elimination in a best-of-three format.