Have we reached a point where the entire Southeast Asia region will benefit from this format?
SOUTHEAST ASIA – VALORANT Esports has announced a new circuit, ‘Challengers Southeast Asia,’ which merges six sub-regions into a single entity. Matches will be played on either the Singapore or Hong Kong servers.
The affected regions include Indonesia, Malaysia/Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Taiwan/Hong Kong. The six aforementioned regions will compete under the unified banner of Challengers SEA starting later this year in the new Split 3 tournament series, where teams will also be competing for qualification to Split 1 of Challengers next year.
“Before Premier launched, we structured our Challengers across 6 separate leagues in Southeast Asia. Our goal was to foster sustainable, thriving VALORANT esports ecosystems in each of our markets. While we have made progress towards that goal, we realized that to launch the APAC competitive scene into its next stage of growth, we needed to make changes to our structure,” the announcement reads.
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To put it simply, it will adopt a similar system to Counter-Strike RMR, where all of Southeast Asia is merged into the Rest of Asia Qualifier.
This also essentially brings back the system from 2021 when Challengers Southeast Asia existed, but now without regional slot distribution. Teams will also compete directly for slots in the bigger Southeast Asia circuit rather than within their individual regions before moving on to the next stage of representation which is Ascension.
Oasis Gaming from the Philippines could face a team from Malaysia/Singapore or Vietnam much earlier in the competition, and it just means a more exciting competition overall. This could attract more viewers to Challengers Southeast Asia, as typically, Vietnamese fans don’t watch Challengers TW/HK matches and Indonesians don’t usually tune in for Challengers South Asia matches unless there are Indonesian players involved.
We just can’t wait to watch FULL SENSE vs. BOOM Esports, which we can only see once a year in Ascension if they qualify or in the OFF//SEASON if both teams are invited. New rivalries will be born. This change could boost viewership and lead to a more lively competition and ecosystem overall, don’t you think?
But looking from a different perspective, this could lead to a scenario in Challengers Southeast Asia where we see more teams from Indonesia compared to Thailand, or vice versa, as there won’t be any regional slot distribution between these six merged regions, which will cease to exist starting next year. It’s even possible that, due to this change, one of these six regions may not even send any teams for the main event of Challengers Southeast Asia due to their weaker performance relative to others.
While the merge could mean a more competitive bracket, it might not necessarily contribute to the development of less-developed regions.
“Teams who succeed at Challengers SEA will not only be recognised as the best in their market, but will also be the best in the Southeast Asian region as a whole. By raising the stakes in this way, we are confident Challengers SEA will be an even more entertaining tournament to watch and engage with. Fans can expect exciting international matchups and more compelling broadcast value.”
The change will also change regional competition dynamics in both developed and less developed regions. The possibility of hosting domestic LAN events is now in question. While LAN events for Challengers Southeast Asia may still happen, this change means that domestic competition, entertainment, and community will be the most affected. And what about the stories behind each local team?
Challengers Philippines, for an example, will be discontinued next year, and there will no longer be a dedicated event for teams from the country to showcase themselves and compete on a local stage in Manila. Instead, teams will directly participate in Challengers Southeast Asia.
Does this also mean that the roster construction rules will no longer apply to all Southeast Asian nations? Could this actually be a good thing for the long term? Have we reached a point where the entire Southeast Asia region will benefit from this format?
VALORANT Challengers Southeast Asia Split 3
- October-December 2024
- 16 teams in total
- (12 teams) The top 2 teams from each Split 2 in SEA (ID, MY/SG, PH, TH, VN, TW/HK)
- (1 team) from Premier Episode 9 Act 1
- (3 teams) from Premier Episode 9 Act 2
- Teams who play in this split will be competing for qualification to Split 1 of Challengers next year.
Challengers Southeast Asia Split 3 will give the first glimpse into this system, but with regional slot distribution still implemented for the tournament series. This marks the start of what could be a more intense competition next year, and we can only hope that this change will have a positive change on SEA VALORANT as they hope.
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Cover photo courtesy of VCT Pacific
