Bruce Dias 
VALORANT is a tactical team shooter developed by RIOT Games. The game developed by the League of Legends authors has become popular quickly and is one of the leading esports disciplines in 2023.
The shooter attracts people from different regions, and the competitive element of VALORANT leaves no one indifferent. It is also well-developed as an esports discipline: VALORANT matches gather dozens of thousands of fans in front of the screens all over the world, and Valorant tournaments drive the industry forward, determining quality standards for VALORANT esports tournament operators in other disciplines.
We will try to figure out why VALORANT is so good and why it is loved in different regions, what is the secret of Riot Games, why Valorant matches grab attention, and Valorant tournaments will soon replace CS:GO and other games from leading positions.
Riot Games is the Main Key to the Success of VALORANT
The key game driver, moreover, when we are talking about the esports-focused project, is the creators of the title. Valorant is pretty lucky in this term because it was made by Riot Games. The name Riot is opposed to the direct meaning of the word in the gaming industry. The American company has the reputation of responsible game developers and masters of its business.It is easy to confirm the above-mentioned statements: League of Legends is living and thriving proof. The MOBA game by Riot is highly popular, and Valorant will do the same.
Developing Valorant, Riot was following the same principle it used while working on League: coordination with the community and regular content updates. The game develops constantly. New maps and agents are introduced, the rebalance of weapons is done, and the in-game shop is filled with skins. It is hard to imagine a better environment for casual players, and there is esports too.
Esports in VALORANT – The Main Driver of Development
While developing Valorant, Riot Games made it clear from the very first days of supporting the game that the shooter was created with a focus on the competitive scene. With the development of the project, the VALORANT creators do not deviate from their course.
Why VALORANT Tournaments are Successful
The esports basis in the tactical shooter is tournaments, like everywhere else. They achieve record numbers of viewers, attracting users for a few reasons:
- The competition structure
- The prevalence of events
- The diversity of formats
- The production by Riot
In Valorant, Riot uses the working formula from its main title, League of Legends. It is expressed in the formula of many regions + franchise system of tournaments. The main driver of the esports scene and the main prestigious Valorant tournaments are the events in the VCT series (VALORANT Champions Tour). The VCT championships appeared at the dawn of the competitive game ecosystem, and they evolved into a complete analog of the League of Legends tournament system in 2023.
Now, competitive VALORANT has a strict regional distribution. Riot creates 3 partnership leagues where 30 clubs (10 in every League) will be playing in the first year of the new format: the American partnership league, the European League, and the Asian one. Teams from partnership leagues will form the core of participants of the biggest international VALORANT tournaments in 2023. A few large championships are scheduled for the beginning of the new season.
VALORANT Champions Tour 2023: LOCK//IN São Paulo will be the first international tournament; it will gather 30 partnership clubs in one place. At LOCK//IN, the teams will play bo3 matches and bo5 semi-finals and finals in one Single-Elimination bracket and the winner of the competition will earn 100,000 dollars.
After the Brazil carnival of esports Valorant, teams will return to a regular VCT environment. First, they will be fighting for slots in Masters and then for tickets to the main Valorant championship of the year – Champions 2023. Based on the experience of the previous Riot championships, VCT will bring not just matches of the strongest teams from various regions but a unique show for each event in 2023. We can be sure about that.
The Esports Core – VALORANT Matches
It is a terrible banality, but it is mandatory. But everything is pretty standard in Valorant matches. The team shooter by Riot has a standard set of matches with classic rules for the industry: bo1 elimination matches, bo3 matches, and bo5 matches in the late stages of the championships. The presence of agents with unique abilities and the unique map pack is a feature of Valorant matches.
Such a combination adds spectacle to the game, making every match authentic, but there are also default things. Summing up the above-said, we can confidently state that discipline will have a big future. With Riot’s approach to the game, Valorant tournaments will become even more spectacular, matches will bring more tactical depth and beautiful moments, and the esports scene will keep developing.
