What is franchising in Valorant? Entire VCT 2023 partnership process explored

Valorant is one of the most popular games out there right now. The free-to-play first-person hero shooter has grown in popularity over the last while since its official release in June 2020.

The Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) is a competitive tournament series for the video game organized by Riot Games. It is a global tournament.

The competitive scene for Riot's shooter has been steady for a while but is about to receive a massive shakeup. Franchising will be introduced for VCT 2023. Here is what you need to know.

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Valorant franchising: A complete guide to VCT 2023

In Esports, franchising typically refers to a circuit in which a number of teams participate, which are owned by organizations, companies, and investors. This is typically a closed circuit.

Riot Games, the developers, are adopting a similar approach. They are referring to it as a partnership approach, though. In this partnership, the teams will have the opportunity to play and compete while the game earns the rights to all intellectual property therein.

There will be three international leagues across the world, each with 10 teams present.

The popular game gameplay (Image via Riot Games)

Teams will not have a stake in the league like other games have done, but they will be able to earn money through cosmetic sales and other methods via the intellectual property that Riot Games would own. This is the biggest part of the new partnership system.

Also, unlike other games, they will not have any demotion system. Teams can and will remain in their leagues as long as they do not do anything to warrant expulsion.

They will be setting up an amateur circuit, though, which will allow some teams the opportunity to qualify for the professional circuit. There is currently no cost to being in the franchising system, so teams can really only stand to benefit from participating.

They will even be given a stipend of $600,000 and the opportunity to earn another $400,000 throughout the course of the season.

The game announced the changes on their website, saying:

"Thanks to our players and fans, VALORANT is today's fastest growing esport. Between the nail-biter overtimes, the ever-evolving meta, and the Brimstone-crumbling anime-fight-scene music videos, we're off to an exciting start. But we're still just scratching the surface of VALORANT's competitive potential. So in 2023, we are introducing major evolutions to the VALORANT competitive ecosystem that will create an even better player and fan experience and propel VALORANT to become the #1 competitive FPS in the world."

The 10 teams for each region have been announced, and are as follows:

Americas:

1. 100 Thieves
2. Cloud9
3. Evil Geniuses
4. Furia
5. KRU Esports
6. Leviatan
7. LOUD
8. MIBR
9. NRG
10. Sentinels

EMEA:

1. BBL Esports
2. Fnatic
3. FUT Esports
4. Giants
5. Karmine Corp
6. KOI
7. NAVI
8. Team Heretics
9. Team Liquid
10. Team Vitality

Pacific:

1. Detonation Gaming
2. DRX
3. Gen.G
4. Global Esports
5. Paper Rex
6. Rex Regum Qeon
7. T1
8. Talon Esports
9. Team Secret
10. Zeta Division

Hopeful teams who did not make it will have future opportunities as one team will be added to each region each year. These changes are expected to come into place next year.