Riot Games to launch Valorant partner league in China — what's new in VCT 2024?

Loading

Leo Faria, the Global Head of Valorant Esports, has published a letter to the esports community, summarizing the 2023 Valorant season and outlining the company's plans for 2024. According to his words, the developers will expand the esports scene of the game, provide more opportunities for Game Changers participants to showcase themselves, balance the season format, and release cosmetic sets for teams.

Focus on Game Changers

In 2024, Riot Games will continue efforts to bridge the gap between the female and male Valorant esports scenes. The developers aim to introduce more mixed-gender teams, hence making certain relaxations in the rules for Game Changers participants. For instance, players from Game Changers will have the option to also compete in male leagues, they will have a loan option, and won't be subject to territory import rule as seen in other Valorant leagues. These innovations will enable organizations to experiment with team compositions and offer new players a chance to shine.

Shopify Rebellion with the VCT Game Changers Championship Cup 2023

The Game Changers season will remain just as vibrant in 2024, although there might be slight adjustments to the event schedule to create a more balanced tournament calendar. The company has promised to provide more details on this later.

Launch of the Chinese League

One of the key innovations for the tournament season in 2024 will be the introduction of the fourth partner league — VCT China. It will follow a similar format to the Americas, EMEA, and Pacific leagues. The new league will feature ten partner teams from China's largest esports organizations:

• All Gamers

• Bilibili Gaming

• EDward Gaming

• FunPlus Phoenix

• JD Gaming

• Nova Esports

• Trace Esports

• Titan Esports Club

• TYLOO

• Wolves Esports

These teams are well-known in other esports titles, primarily in League of Legends, another game developed by Riot Games.

Participants of VCT China

Participants of VCT China will also compete in international tournaments like Masters and Champions. The new league will adhere to the same rules as the others. For instance, they'll have Ascension tournaments, enabling teams to advance to higher leagues.

New Format

One of the issues in the professional Valorant scene in 2023 was the imbalance in the season. Teams had an intense schedule in the first half of the year while experiencing a relative lull in the second half. In 2024, Riot Games plans to modify the tournament calendar to evenly distribute viewership attention throughout the year. Additionally, developers pledge to allocate time for teams to rest post-major events and provide a window for player reshuffling. The new schedule aims to balance all these aspects.

In 2023, the Valorant tournament season commenced with the global event VCT 2023: LOCK//IN São Paulo. Developers intend to make this a tradition, and in 2024, the season will also start with tournaments from the KICK-OFF series. However, each partner league will now have its own tournament, all commencing around the same time:

• February 16 — Americas;

• February 17 — Pacific;

• February 20 — EMEA;

• February 22 — China.

The first tournament of the Masters series will take place in Spain

The top two teams from each KICK-OFF tournament will compete at the VALORANT Champions Tour 2024: Masters Madrid, scheduled from March 14 to March 24. The second Masters will be held in Shanghai in May — the exact dates will be announced later. It's worth noting that eight teams will compete in the tournament in Spain, while China will host twelve teams (three from each league).

Team Bundles

According to Riot Games, in 2023, the company paid out around $33 million to partner league participants from the sale of digital goods (over a million dollars per team). That, combined with the base stipend and additional incentives provided by Riot.

In the upcoming season, teams will have even more favorable conditions — developers have announced that they will release signature skin sets for each participant of the VCT. These sets will debut in February, right after the regional KICK-OFF tournaments begin. These sets will be available for purchase at any time throughout the season. A portion of the revenue from the sale of these sets will directly benefit the teams.

Recall that the competitive season of VCT 2023 consisted of several stages. Initially, all 30 teams competed in the KICK-OFF tournament VCT 2023: LOCK//IN São Paulo (Fnatic emerged as the champion). Then, participants played matches in their respective regional leagues (Americas, EMEA, and Pacific), vying for spots in VCT 2023: Masters Tokyo. Ultimately, Fnatic emerged as the top team once again at the Japanese tournament. In July, the regional leagues held qualification matches for the season's final tournament. The VALORANT Champions 2023 took place from August 6 to August 26 in Los Angeles and concluded with the triumph of Evil Geniuses.

The most popular Valorant tournaments in the VCT 2023 season

Parallel to the main season, two Challengers splits were played along with the Ascension Tournament. The final major tournament in 2023 was the VCT 2023: Game Changers Championship, where the Shopify Rebellion team emerged victorious. The standout event was the VCT 2023: LOCK//IN São Paulo — it drew over 1.44 million viewers simultaneously. During the VALORANT Champions 2023, there were 1.29 million peak viewers.