More than 10 main Valorant eSports tournaments happen throughout the year until the arrival of the Annual VCT Champions Event. Despite some pandemic-led complications, the first and only VCT 2021 event was a success. Now, the upcoming VCT 2022 event is where everyone’s focusing, but there’s good news for Valorant eSports SEA teams.
Among the best things related to the VCT 2022 event is that every team competes on LAN. It makes up for a pure Valorant gaming experience, which the Valorant eSports SEA team can now enjoy!
VCT SEA Esports 2021 Overview
The VCT Champions event held in December 2021 was the first Global Valorant Annual Championship event since its official launch. Being played on LAN in Berlin, it was the ultimate successor to the year-long VCT Challengers & VCT Masters Series. The final team rosters included qualifying teams from EMEA, NA, CIS, and other regions championships except for any VCT SEA teams.
But that’s changing for the SEA Valorant eSports gaming enthusiasts, as per a post by Sukumal Pegu. He’s the Head of Publishing for Riot Games for the SEA Region, revealing several exciting things about the VCT 2022.
Valorant South Asia Gaming & Growing VCT SEA Community
SEA will get two slots each, into both the APC Challenger Playoffs in 2022. The SEA Challengers will begin with VCC for Split 1 & the SEA region will finally become a recognized part of VCT.
Above is the gist of the discussion with Mr. Sukumal Pegu about SEA Valorant gaming entering the global playing field.
The Valorant SEA gaming community questioned the ongoing VCT 2021 event about not including them. Now, Riot Games has made arrangements to include them, which is most beneficial for SEA eSports Valorant gaming enthusiasts.
What led the Riot Games to Bring Valorant SEA to VCT 2022?
Compared to major regions globally, the SEA gaming community hasn’t had many competitive games in the distant past. Regardless of any eSports game title, while the community has been actively engaged by gameplay or viewership, the official competitive gaming experience has largely been absent.
But, Valorant changed the past eSports gaming climate of SEA, especially when BR mobile gaming was thriving. It brought on participation, audience viewership, and competitiveness among the community, which is what held the case for SEA to be included.
The viewership on a popular live-streaming platform for VCT events exceeded 60k viewers, hailing from the SEA region. Moreover, the SEA Global Esports team’s existence and performance have helped the game developers notice the fanbase.
The developers are confident that the team is ready to go toe-to-toe with other best teams globally, hence deserving a formal entry into the VCT events. The inclusion of SEA teams will be managed through partners like Nodwin Gaming, etc.
It’s said that the South Asian Challengers event will occur after completion of the VCC, APAC, and Master 1 events. It establishes the SEA Challengers event as a Spilt 2 event. But, it is yet to be discussed how the formatting & structure of VCT 2022 will be organized as a whole.
VCT 2022 Brackets: Global Valorant Champions Event Dates
The success of the VCT Champions Event 2021 is propelling eSports players and new beginners to adopt Valorant gaming. It includes the 2nd Valorant Challengers events where regional eSports teams composed of women eSports players will also participate.
Beyond this, the VCT 2022 will have a new bracket system. It is not solely because of the inclusion of the Valorant South Asia teams, but because the events have been largely successful in promoting the game and the spirit of eSports gaming.
So let’s look at the upcoming VCT Valorant game events that will grace the calendar month of January 2022.
VCT Champions Tour: Challengers Series
Although the SEA Valorant eSports teams are now included, the current bracket system info doesn’t reflect their participation. However, here are the Valorant Game tournaments that will happen across the following regions:
- Champions Tour Europe Stage 1: Challengers 1
- January 10th-17th, 2022
- Champions Tour Turkey Stage 1: Challengers 1
- January 10th-17th, 2022
- Champions Tour CIS Stage 1: Challengers 1
- January 10th-17th, 2022
- Champions Tour Brazil Stage 1: Challengers
- January 13th – March 28th, 2022
- Champions Tour Europe Stage 1: Challengers 2
- January 17th-24th, 2022
- Champions Tour CIS Stage 1: Challengers 2
- January 17th-24th, 2022
- Champions Tour Turkey Stage 1: Challengers 2
- January 17th-24th, 2022
- Champions Tour Indonesia Stage 1: Challengers 1
- January 20th – February 27th, 2022
- Champions Tour North America Stage 1: Challengers
- January 27th – March 28th, 2022
- Champions Tour North America Stage 2: Challengers
- May 5th – June 27th, 2022
The Takeaway
The emergence of VCT SEA region teams will surely add more competitiveness and thrill for the global Valorant game fans. Meanwhile, keep an eye on our News section to receive the latest Valorant game updates and the VCT section to grab all the grub about Valorant eSports SEA gaming. GLHF!