VALORANT CHAMPIONS 2023: A global game and global esports

Vamos. here we are. For LOUD, Brazil’s best team and defending VALORANT Champions, the “¡Vamos!” It is a rallying cry, a lullaby and a moment of unity. But over the past few years, ¡Famos! Also the nucleus of a somewhat unusual rivalry. It all started when Stax, the IGL of DRX, the best Korean team, decided to take on the “¡Vamos!” for himself. This rivalry between the best of Brazil and the best of Korea has taken root match after match, ¡Vamos! to ¡Vamos!, on stages all over the world.

So when the VALORANT 2023 Champions lineups were announced, eyes quickly turned to LOUD vs. DRX on Match Day 1. In theory, you have methodical Korean lineup after lineup battling the aggressive Brazilian team led by Aspas, one of the best shooters in video games in the past. the world. It was a reboot of the LOCK//IN semi-finals, and the LOUD vs. DRX pairing had the skill, history, drama, and culture that make VALORANT esports so special.

“Regional competitions make esports more interesting,” said Leo Faria, Global President of VALORANT Esports. “That’s the beauty of VALORANT: it’s an international game. In VALORANT esports, we’ve seen a great deal of balance on the international stage between regions and in tournaments between different countries. When we first started thinking about the esports scene, we knew shooters were popular all over the world. around the world and we wanted to cater to this international player base and make sure gamers from everywhere had the opportunity to play esports and participate in VALORANT esports.”

Since the official start of the VALORANT Champions Tour 2021, there have been nine international tournaments. During this period, players from 32 different regions achieved the top four positions in at least one of these tournaments. We have seen great players from Indonesia, Ukraine, Chile, Canada, Belgium, Japan, Croatia, Korea, Cambodia, Turkey and Finland to name a few.
The 2023 Champions follow the same pattern, with exactly two teams from each of the Americas, EMEA, APAC and China playing in the quarter-finals.

The Americas League is represented by Evil Geniuses from North America and LOUD from Brazil; EMEA has Fnatic, a team with a roster that includes players from all over Europe, and FUT Esports with an all-Turkish roster; APAC was represented by Paper Rex, which represented three countries in Southeast Asia, the aforementioned Korean giants DRX, and China was represented by EDward Gaming and Bilibili Gaming, which quickly became favorites in Los Angeles. From Brazil to Finland to Malaysia, viewers of VALORANT Champions will likely be able to cheer on someone from their home country at the event.

“Esports, especially international eSports, is about inspiration,” says Liu. “You want someone playing VALORANT at home with their friends to have someone to look up to and be like, ‘That’s cool, I want to do this too.'” But when your own culture isn’t being represented, when you can’t see yourself in the league, in the competition, it’s hard to feel inspired. So when you’re watching a tournament with teams from all over the world, made up of people from your culture playing well and winning games, you can feel inspired. With the magic of e-sports.”