The competitive potential of Valorant will be getting an all-new look in 2023 which will exhibit major evolutions in the overall ecosystem in a bid to make the first-person tactical shooter the #1 multiplayer game on the globe.
Just like how Riot’s League of Legends has been structured, a similar esports model will soon be deployed in Valorant’s competitive circuit which will introduce the International Leagues just as they do in their MOBA title, the LCS and LEC events.
The major difference between LoL and Valorant would be, teams won’t need to buy in a franchise slot to compete while in the former, teams would have to invest in millions to hook themselves a slot at the same.
The International Leagues in Valorant would further help teams to accumulate points towards their Masters and Champions Global Tournaments while also offering a fixed set of stipends to selective teams in a bid to support their players and staff, the likes of which we saw during the first iteration of Flashpoint 1. With that being said, the organizers at Riot plan to introduce the International leagues respectively in North America, Europe, and Asia.
This proposed Esports model was first put into work in 2017 by the League of Legends committee in North America where regions like Europe, China, Latin America, Korea, Brazil, and Turkey further inherited it to nosedive with the same vision.
Third-party tournaments
Third-party tournaments will see teams come forward and test out their newly planned rosters when there would be an off-season or pre-season shenanigans. Riot are expected to open the window for third-party tournaments somewhere in the second half of 2022.
Global tournaments
Global tournaments will see teams from the International Leagues come together under one roof and lock horns just like they do in League of Legends. Details on every layer of this planned competitive ecosystem are yet to be determined by Riot which will witness the details being addressed for the team selection process for the International Leagues.