VCT 2023: Next VALORANT season to feature new leagues, partner teams

On Thursday, Riot Games announced several changes to the VALORANT Champions Tour for 2023, including the establishment of three international leagues featuring LAN competitions in front of live audiences and long-term partnerships with select teams. The best teams in these leagues will qualify for two Masters events and Champions 2023, similar to how the qualification process for Masters and Champions has worked in 2021 and 2022.

The changes for VCT 2023 appear to be the next step in a slow transition from an open system of qualification for the top-tier events to a more closed system. In 2021, a series of open events in each region allowed any VALORANT team to ultimately qualify for Masters and Champions. In 2022, open events lead to a couple of closed main events for a handful of teams in each region, with teams that have done well in previous stages getting to bypass qualifiers and getting placed in these main events.

In 2023, with the announcement of partner teams competing in the international leagues, that means these will be the teams that will get a chance to qualify for international events. According to Riot’s press release, domestic leagues will be established for teams that are not part of the international leagues to compete in.

Essentially, the changes for VCT 2023 mirror the franchise model that several of Riot’s League of Legends regional leagues have.

“We want to build the top level of competition that will provide more exciting matches, new events that will thrill live audiences, and engaging experiences for millions of online fans. We’ll use everything we learned from the past 10 years with LoL Esports to build an ecosystem that will supercharge VALORANT into the next great multigenerational esport,” Riot Games president of esports John Needham said in the release.

The three international leagues will be established in the Americas, Europe and Asia. That probably means teams from North America and South America will be competing against each other in one league, and teams from Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia will be grouped in one league. In Europe, teams from Europe, the Middle East and Africa already form one region, so that likely will remain the case in 2023.

Riot did not reveal any details about how many teams would be in each league or the names of any of the partner teams. According to the release, Riot will identify partner teams throughout 2022 through a selective application process. One important difference from franchised leagues in League of Legends and other games like Overwatch and Call of Duty is that there will be no fee for teams to become part of these leagues in VALORANT. On the contrary, Riot will provide partner teams with financial support.

“We have designed our long-term partnership model for VALORANT so teams can thrive and build their business alongside the overall growth of VALORANT Esports,” head of esports operations at Riot Games Whalen Rozelle said in the release. “We are setting up our long-term partners for success by forgoing any entry or participation fees for selected organizations. Our aim is to free our partners to invest their resources in supporting their pros and growing their fanbases through creating incredible content for fans.”

The next phase of the 2022 VALORANT Tour kicks off Thursday with open qualifiers for North America’s Stage 2 Challengers main event. The main events in several regions around the world will take place from May through June with the next Masters tournament set to take place in July.

Lead photo credit: Riot Games