The upcoming VALORANT Champions in Seoul will represent the inaugural hosting of the Champions event in Asia and the third International Event following last year’s Masters Tokyo and Masters Shanghai this May.
SOUTH KOREA – Riot Games has confirmed that the 2024 VALORANT Champions will take place in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. The event is set to take place from August 1 to 25 at a venue yet to be announced.
Renowned as the hub city of VCT Pacific, Seoul witnessed Paper Rex last year as the inaugural champions of the league at the Jangchung Arena.
“We think about our fans first, and we always want to deliver a world-class esports experience for our community everywhere, and we believe we have to go meet our fans wherever they are,” Jake Sin, Head of VALORANT Esports, APAC, revealed at the VCT Pacific KICKOFF Press Conference.
“In the past 3 years of VCT history, we’ve never had Champions in APAC, so we wanted to bring the experience here for our APAC fans and Korean fans. They deserve to witness the pinnacle of VCT spectacle in their hometown, and it’s finally going to be their turn. Korea has been for the long, longest time a global powerhouse in the esports industry, bringing not just great entertainment, but also a network of highly experienced partners and a very passionate gaming community.”
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The VALORANT Champions Seoul will feature 16 teams representing the four International Leagues. Each league will send four teams, with three securing qualifications through the top three finishes in the Stage 2 Playoffs, and the fourth team earning a spot based on accumulated Championship Points throughout the season.
In 2024, Championship Points will be the method to measure teams’ performance throughout the season and recognize season-long consistency through Champions Qualification.
Champions, the ultimate event of the VCT circuit marks the pinnacle of the competitive VALORANT season. Seoul is set to become the fourth city to host Champions, following Berlin in 2021, Istanbul in 2022, and Los Angeles in 2023. It will be the inaugural city in Asia to host this prestigious tournament. The current reigning champions are Evil Geniuses, who secured their title by defeating Paper Rex in the final of the 2023 event held in Los Angeles.
Known for its avid gaming culture, the country as a whole is one of the world’s largest esports markets. The esports culture, as we know it today, started off in South Korea and quickly spread to other parts of the world, including the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia. It all started with Internet cafés, known as PC bangs, which fostered an environment of competition as early as 1998. With the growing number of areas covered by the country’s statewide broadband network, online video games gained huge traction in the country in the early 2000s, and thus began the rise of South Korean esports.
ALSO READ: A take on VCT Pacific hub city: Seoul, South Korea
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Cover photo courtesy of Liu YiCun/Riot Games
