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Riot Games has finally revealed plans for the expansion of the tier-two esports ecosystem of its tactical shooter game, Valorant. The next Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) will begin in 2023 and will aim to bring about a change to the structure of the already popular tournament series.
The new system will have a way for tier-two teams to legitimately rise to the tier-one rank. The two-tier system will be known as Challengers and will consist of 21 different regional circuits throughout the Americas, EMEA, and APAC.
A detailed look at Valorant VCT 2023 format
This will include all the circuits for North America, Korea, India, Japan, and several other regions. The regional leagues that have been operational in EMEA over the years will also be merged into this new system.
The new league format will begin with open qualifiers and the format will be reminiscent of the Challengers event that took place in 2022, with teams getting regular season play over the weeks. The teams who will be competing there will also have the opportunity to earn a spot in the international tier-one leagues every year.
Challengers Ascension
The best teams from the Challengers League will advance to the next level, which is the Challengers Ascension Tournament. The three international regions that will compete at this stage are the Americas, EMEA, and Pacific, one for each of the regions in the Challengers League.
This is an expansion of the Challengers leagues to include more players from more countries and regions. The teams who win the Challengers Ascension will receive a promotion to the region's international league for a couple of years.
These teams will receive the same benefits and opportunities to qualify for international events such as Masters and Champions. After the two-year cycle, the previously promoted teams will be placed back into the Challengers League and will need to qualify for the international leagues again through the Challengers and Challengers Ascension.
New international leagues
The winners of the Valorant Challengers Ascension will then advance to the top of the pyramid which will see them compete against each other in the international league.
Three new leagues will be introduced where the best teams will compete to be crowned champions of their respective selections and qualify for the Global Events.
Riot Games is even planning an in-game competitive system that goes beyond the ranked system that is in place now. From 2024 onwards, teams that emerge from the path-to-pro system will get a chance to directly qualify from the game to the Challengers league. It's highly likely that these new teams will be going up against the lower-ranked Challengers teams in do-or-die relegation matches.
Partnership program
The new and exclusive Valorant partnership leagues will also add new participants from the Ascension circuit until 2028. The number of teams will increase with every new year and each league will be receiving one new team by 2027. The teams will have the opportunity to qualify for the partnership league through the Ascension tournaments.
