Features of the gaming season 2023 in Valorant

Since the company Riot Games has presented brand new rules for the functioning of the whole Valorant competitive ecosystem at the end of the previous year, many things will change in this season.

It is enough to recall that we will see three large leagues with partners from Europe, America, and Asia, on which the organizers will focus mainly. There is a complete TIER-2 scene, which proposes an open system of promotion to VCT for two years.

In other words, the new competitive season promises to be interesting. But before that, it is worth learning about the Valorant tournament schedule and finding out what fans will see in 2023.

VALORANT Champions Tour 2023: LOCK//IN São Paulo

The first stop in the new season will be the championship VALORANT Champions Tour 2023: LOCK//IN São Paulo. All partner clubs and also two teams from China will meet together in Brazil to determine the strongest during two weeks.

The solid prize pool of $500,000 only boosts expectations from the upcoming championship, which will gather the best representatives of the scene.

Masters and VALORANT Champions

Riot Games decided to not refuse its titled championships Masters and VALORANT Champions. In the season 2023, there will be only one Masters event, which will take place in Tokyo. In its turn, the location for VALORANT Champions has not been confirmed yet but, according to rumors, Los Angeles will be a venue for the competition once again.

It will be attended by partnership teams, which have become the best in their regions. Besides, the qualifying tournaments will be hosted for the final championship to determine all participants of VALORANT Champions.

Partnership leagues in Europe, America, and Asia

The foundation of the new gaming season will be partnership leagues, which will be organized in Europe, America, and Asia. According to rumors, the developers will quickly expand their ecosystem in the summer and introduce China but now, we can only follow the events.

These Valorant tournaments are analogs of the regional leagues LEC, LCS, and LCK, which are hosted in the discipline League of Legends. Honestly, the system reminds us of the legendary MOBA by Riot Games a lot but it proposes way more opportunities to enter in the future.

The list of partner organizations in the European league (a venue — Berlin):

Team Vitality, Karmine Corp, FUT Esports, BBL Esports, Natus Vincere, Fnatic, Team Liquid, KOI, Team Heretics, and Giants Gaming.

The list of partner organizations in the American League (a venue — Los Angeles):

Sentinels, 100 Thieves, Cloud9, NRG Esports, Evil Geniuses, FURIA, LOUD, MIBR, Leviatán Esports, and KRÜ Esports.

The list of partner organizations in the Asian league (a venue — Seoul):

ZETA DIVISION, T1, Gen.G Esports, DRX, DetonatioN Gaming, Team Secret, Rex Regum Qeon, Paper Rex, Talon Esports, and Global Esports.

Each league has a particular number of participants for the starting season — ten teams. The best clubs will be competing against each other to get a chance to prove themselves in the international arena.

Like before, the endpoint of the competitive season will be the championship VALORANT Champions, which will be carried out at the end of the year and gather the best representatives from all regions.

The regional Challengers series

Besides the partnership leagues, the organizers will actively support the TIER-2 scene together with the championships in the Challengers series.

The Challengers series will include a few championships from all over the world, and each regional league will have a few small leagues. North America and South America will consist of four leagues, Europe will have seven, and Asia will include the biggest number — 10 leagues.

America:

Europe:

Asia:

At the end of each enlarged region, there will be Ascension tournaments, the winners of which will get slots in VCT in their regions for two years. As a result, we have a united ecosystem, which functions together and provides every team an opportunity to feel the atmosphere of the live public and compete against the best of the best.

Summing up, the new competitive season in Valorant has a lot of interesting stories. First of all, the discipline will taste the partnership model for the first time, which looks like familiar franchising but proposes way more opportunities for the second-tier teams.

In 2023, a few large championships will be organized and dozens of regional tournaments in each of the three enlarged regions will be carried out. As a result, the number of participants in the VCT series will increase by three teams, and their number will grow every year.