Explanation of Franchise, Promotion, League Format, and more
VCT 2023: Franchise Description, Promotions, League Formats, and more.
Riot Games has released a detailed five-year plan for VALORANT’s competitive scene, including what 2023 will look like for teams that don’t make it into a partnership or franchise program. Now, fans know what the VCT ecosystem will look like in five years.
Due to the new Valorant league in 2023, the path for new players to become pro players will be very different. Next year, players who want to reach the top of the VALORANT competition will have to go through even more challenges.
Fortunately, those who want to give it a try will have a solid path to get there starting in 2023. The VALORANT Champions Tour continues in 2023 with the regional Challengers events, which are tournaments for emerging talent looking to play at international league level.
In 2023, players in more regions will be able to start playing in Challengers, which will still be the start of the path to pro for competitive VALORANT. There will be bigger events, new tournaments and a more structured competitive ecosystem for games starting in 2023.
Challengers League Expanded
Currently, Challengers has an entry point for teams to enter the global tournament, namely the Masters. And Challengers will still be the first point for players and teams in 2023.
By 2023, Challengers will cover 21 leagues around the world, ensuring every VALORANT player has a path to realizing their competitive dreams.
Also Read: Calm Valorant Team, There’s a Tier 2 Valorant Challengers Ecosystem That Can Promote To VCT!
Challenger Leagues will be the same as the current system where Challengers will start with open qualifier and deliver the best teams to two regular season match splits (playoffs) lasting several weeks.
Every Challenger split will culminate in a playoff tournament, and one team will be crowned champion of that league! To ensure that these players and teams receive the attention they deserve, the biggest Challenger leagues will be broadcast specifically which will be scheduled to avoid conflicts with international league matches.
There will be 21 Challengers leagues worldwide: 4 in America, 7 in EMEA and 10 in Asia Pacific:
America
- NA
- North LATAM
- Brazil
- South LATAM
EMEA
- Northern Europe
- Southern Europe (Spain, Italy, and Portugal)
- France and Benelux
- Dach (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland)
- Turkey
- Eastern Europe
- MENA
Pacific
- South Asia (Includes India)
- Thailand
- Vietnamese
- Malaysia and Singapore
- Korea
- Japan
- Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong
- Philippines
- Indonesia
- Oceania
New League – Challengers Ascension
The new level of competition is called Challengers Ascension. There are three Ascension leagues: EMEA, Americas and Pacific.
This tournament is the pinnacle of the Challengers league and will end with the top team in each Challenger league moving to the Ascension league, where they will crown the best team in their region.
1 team from each of these 3 regions will be promoted and entered into the international league. This means that the winner of the Challenger Ascension 2023 tournament in their region will advance to the international league in 2024.
In 2023, 10 teams per international league will compete in global competitions while the Challengers and Ascension leagues fight for a place in the 2024 international team roster. Each region will allow one additional team to enter the international league, which means in 2024, there will be 11 teams per international league.
There is a Promotion System for VCT 2023
10 franchise teams in each region will not drop from the international league, and conversely, the league will only grow based on Riot’s five-year plan. Since the promotion calendar calls for a fairly slow league expansion, this won’t mean much to the teams competing in 2023.
Those who participated in the tournament Challengers and Ascension will not compete in the international league in 2023. They will fight for a place in 2024.
The team that wins the place will get two years in the international league before they are forced to returned to the Challengers circuit after the second year ended.
There is only one new slot for the 2024 season in each region, meaning teams will have to fight their way through multiple matches before they can claim victory and participate in international leagues.
10 Teams Will Still be Chosen by Riot for partnership / Franchise
For the 2023 international season, there will be 10 teams from each of the three regions competing to be the best squad in the world. These leagues will look similar to events Masters and Champions at the moment. The difference is, these 10 teams will play in their respective leagues every week, like other franchise leagues.
The international league will start in mid-February 2023 and end in September, according to sources. Teams will also get some kind of perks for being a partnering team, although that dollar amount will depend on the number of content submissions.
Don’t forget to visit the SPIN Website for other latest updates, and follow our Instagram and Youtube.
