Valorant Ignition Series announced: Tournaments, schedule, more

Riot Games have launched the Valorant Ignition Series of events — the first step in building a competitive ecosystem in conjunction with fellow esports organizers. 

The wait is over. Riot have finally announced their first step towards supporting the Valorant esport scene, with their aptly named ‘Ignition Series’ of events.

While Riot have previously announced their intentions on working with third-party organizers, no plan had been laid out. On June 16, that changed with the official Riot-partner program.

What is the Valorant Ignition Series?

Spanning across the globe, the Ignition Series will seek to “lay the foundation for competitive Valorant” as plenty of players from all corners of esports are flocking to Riot’s new FPS. Detailed in their press release, Whalen ‘Magnus’ Rozelle (Senior Director of Global Esports at Riot Games) said: “To create the Ignition Series, we’ve partnered with more than 20 esports organizations around the world to bring you Valorant events.”

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While a number of tournaments have already taken place, this is Riot’s first step in supporting the development of a competitive landscape for Valorant which will span all around the world.

“Ignition Series tournaments will provide players with the opportunity to begin building their region’s competitive legacy… The Ignition Series will have events in North America, Brazil, Latin America, Korea, Japan, South East Asia, Oceania, Europe, Russia, Turkey, and the Middle East.”

When is the Valorant Ignition Series?

Valorant’s Ignition Series will begin on June 19, with two events. The G2 Esports Valorant Invitational will see eight squads in EMEA (Europe, Middle-East and Africa) battle it out for the lion’s share of the prize and to etch their name in the Ignition Series.

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Meanwhile, Japan’s biggest esport event, Rage, will be hosting the first officially licensed Valorant tournament in Japan under the Ignition Series brand. 16 teams will compete in a winner-take-all event, when the victor will take home 500,000 Yen.

Rage will take place between June 20-21, making for a jam-packed weekend of Valorant action, as the cream of the crop look set to make a name for themselves in competitive Valorant. 

How will Riot structure the Valorant Ignition Series?

As part of their press release, Riot stated that we can “expect the Ignition Series to run through the fall,” which will likely align with the first Episode within Valorant.

While no specific dates of an ending to the Ignition Series were mentioned, it is likely that the tournaments will build-up to a ‘curtain caller’ at the end of the series of events, to recognize a global champion.

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Referred to as ‘Major tournaments’ in Riot’s community competition guidelines, these events will work in tandem with the Valorant global esports ecosystem.

As Valorant continues to grow on a global-scale, plenty of teams all around the world will bring their own unique approach to the character-based shooter.

Given the varied regional approaches to Valorant as an esport, a series of events with the aim of recognizing the global leaders in the scene is an exciting prospect for fans far and wide.