New leagues and in-game features will expand the esports ecosystem, the new tournament model will establish long-term partnerships with selected teams in 2023.
As of today, Riot Games has announced its groundbreaking plans for VALORANT esports. VALORANT esports will establish three international leagues in 2023 to ensure high-level competition. The new model will establish long-term partnerships with a number of teams at no cost, ensuring long-term consistency in the world’s fastest growing esports. To support this initiative, Riot Games will roll out new features and events including:
Riot Games reveals Valorant plans
Three international leagues where the world’s best teams compete every week. In three international leagues spanning teams from the Americas, EMEA and Asia, the best players will compete against each other in a LAN setting and against a live audience (health and safety permitting). The best teams that have stood out in their leagues throughout the year will qualify for two international Masters events and the VALORANT Champions event, where a single team will become the VALORANT World Champion.
Crafted to bring out the best talent from around the world, the new competitive game mode will be accessible to all players directly through the VALORANT Client. This mod will supplement existing leaderboards and offer players a new goal beyond ranked play, integrated into the esports ecosystem.
With the new local leagues, opportunities will increase for fresh talent aiming to reach elite international leagues. The best teams in the in-game competitive mode will have the opportunity to compete against the best talents in their regions within their local leagues.
Riot Games will create a new competitive esports environment in which selected organizations can participate without paying an entry or participation fee, and forge long-term partnerships to achieve success.
Whalen Rozelle, Head of Esports Operations at Riot Games, said, “At VALORANT, we want to build the most breathtaking esports today, as well as the best-managed, passionate and exciting teams in the industry. Our long-term partnership model for VALORANT is to help VALORANT not only ensure the sustainability of the teams, but also their development and organization to the growth of VALORANT esports. We designed it to support them in a way they could keep up with.”
“We are poised to build a long-term partnership that leads to success without incurring any participation fee for selected organizations. Our goal is for our partners to focus their resources on building the most competitive team possible, growing their own fan base through a variety of commercials and other esports-related initiatives.”
“Throughout 2022, Riot Games will run a selective submission process to identify the right long-term partners to make VALORANT the world’s leading FPS esports. Teams that meet the selection criteria will receive annual financial support from Riot Games and will receive special opportunities for collaborations on unique in-game apps and products. The partnered teams will be able to distribute esports branded content, allowing VALORANT’s current 15 million monthly player base to reflect on their thoughts on the esports teams they keep both playing and watching.”
“All of these innovations will support a competitive ecosystem that will take VALORANT to the next level of growth,” said John Needham, Head of Esports at Riot Games. “We want to create a great competitive environment that allows for more exciting matches, host new events that will excite live audiences, and build experiences that will impress millions of online fans. Over the past 10 years, LoL Esports has been working to build the ecosystem that will make VALORANT the best esports for generations to come. We will use everything we learn from .
“In 2017, Riot Games became the first game publisher to announce a permanent partnership program with League of Legends esports (LoL Esports). This model established a formal collaboration between the teams and Riot Games, enabling everyone to embrace a shared long-term vision. Since 2017, we have applied this model to North America, Europe, China, Latin America, Korea, Brazil, Turkey and the wider esports industry. Players benefited from more income and stronger support systems, while teams were able to plan for their future for several years.”
“The value of the enduring partnership has also increased within the Riot Games ecosystem, attracting many different talents from both the esports industry and traditional sports. Being in formal contact with the teams has allowed us to create a more engaging esports experience by collaborating directly for large-scale events and digital experiences.”