Cover-Credits:
With the 2022 circuit of the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) coming to a close soon, Riot Games revealed what the future of Valorant esports shall look like. The 2023 edition of the VCT will kick off in Sao Paulo, Brazil with a three-week event taking place in the city. The regular season of the VCT will take place in Los Angeles, Seoul, and Berlin. The one-time event in Sao Paulo will take place in February 2023. The winner of the pre-season event will earn their league an extra slot at the first international Masters event.
The entire VCT format is being revamped
After the pre-season event concludes in Brazil, a weekly LAN competition in Europe, Asia-Pacific, and North America will kick off. International League matches will take place in three cities: Berlin, Seoul, and Los Angeles. This split will begin in March, feature eight weeks of regular-season competition, and crown three league champions in May.
While subsequent seasons will feature two International League splits, 2023 will supplement one split with the international tournament in providing teams with enough time to setup hubs in the LAN event locations.
The second international tournament of the year, Masters, will return in June and feature the best teams from each international league. This event will reward top teams from each territory with direct qualification to Champions, the Valorant world final. July will see the return of the Last Chance Qualifiers, where the teams that have not yet qualified for Champions at the time will get one final opportunity to make it to the world championship.
Riot Games also shared new details about the Challenger Circuit, which will take place concurrently with the VCT season, providing aspiring teams with a path to qualify into international competitions for the 2024 season. Two Challenger splits will begin in January and conclude with the Ascension tournaments in July. These tournaments will feature the best teams from more than twenty different Challenger leagues competing on LAN for regional pride and promotion into the international leagues.
More details about each of the individual events that will take place in 2023 will be available once the ongoing Valorant Champions 2022 event ends.
