"Not a fan of the venue size": Valorant pros react to VCT Game Changers 2023 format

Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Game Changers (GC) 2023 was recently announced along with the dates and venue. The tournament is scheduled to kickstart on November 28, 2023, and conclude on December 3, 2023. The event will feature an offline match format (LAN) with eight teams competing.

Riot Games has decided to host the competition at the esports arena at Riot Studios in São Paulo, Brazil. The choice of venue for this prestigious Valorant event has received criticism from various professional players due to its seating capacity.

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Valorant pros concerned with Riot’s choice of venue for Game Changers 2023

Riot games announced through its official esports website the intention of hosting the VCT Game Changers 2023 in a Riot arena. The pros have raised their concerns regarding the size of the venue and its maximum seating capacity.

The arena reportedly has a capacity of 150 seats that will be available via purchasing tickets. The community is questioning the publisher’s decision to host the Game Changers 2023 in this arena.

Professional Valorant players such as Melanie ‘meL’ Capone from Version1, Benita ‘bENITA’ Novshadian from Shopify Rebellion, and GC 2022 winner Michaela ‘mimi’ Lintrup cited their concerns on Twitter. The pros also believe that the response from the previous event should have made Riot step it up.

Players have also shown dissatisfaction over the slot allotment for the different participating regions. A total of two teams from EMEA and NA, and one from Brazil, SEA, LATAM, and Japan/Korea/China will be allowed to take part in the Game Changers 2023. This might limit opportunities and put pressure on the representing squads as well.

Leo Faria, the Global Head of Valorant esports at Riot Games, replied to these concerns on Twitter. The organizers believe that their choice of venue and seating capacity is the correct path to host Game Changers 2023.

Leo further added that they do not want to grow GC events and make them large international events. The publisher instead wishes to provide this stage to help women and other marginalized genders play in the Masters and Champions.

The Game Changers event focuses on increasing the participation of women and other marginalized genders. The tournament introduces a new international stage for players to compete in and steadily make their way into the Masters and Champions.

However, Leo's tweet was followed by the community’s concern as there is no correlation between the tournament and seating capacity.