Riot adds fourth VCT league for Chinese Valorant teams

Riot Games has announced that China will have its own official VCT league in 2024, featuring the country’s best Valorant teams.

The announcement sees the number of official leagues in the Valorant Champions Tour expanded to four, adding to the Americas, EMEA, and Pacific leagues, all of which kicked off in 2023.

The creation of the VCT China League reflects “Valorant’s goal to be the world’s most global esport,” Riot said in a press release, acknowledging “the potential and contributions of the Chinese community”.

The game was only officially released in mainland China on July 12, three years after its international launch, due to difficulties in obtaining a local license.

According to Tencent, Valorant was the company’s most successful PC game release by number of active users on launch day. It was also the second-most viewed PC game across streaming platforms DouYu, Huya, and Bilibili in its first week, only behind League of Legends, data firm Niko Partners has revealed.

Whalen Rozelle, Riot Games’ COO of Esports, said at the launch event in June that China would be integrated into the Valorant Champions Tour, confirming earlier reports that the country would have its own league. But until now, it was unclear whether this league would be in the same tier as the Americas, EMEA, and Pacific leagues.

Riot has not yet announced which organizations will be competing in the VCT China League. However, recent rumors indicate that NIP, Edward Gaming, Bilibili Gaming, Weibo Gaming, FunPlus Phoenix, and Top Esports have all been selected for the league.

The announcement will only add to the hype already surrounding Chinese Valorant. Last month, Riot announced that Shanghai will host a VCT Masters event in the spring of 2024, marking the first global Valorant event to take place in the country.

At Valorant Champions 2023, Chinese sides once again proved that they can hang with the best teams in the world, with Bilibili Gaming placing in the top eight and EDward Gaming finishing in the top six.