Riot has announced details for the upcoming 2022 Valorant Champions Tour and Game Changers events Friday morning ahead of the conclusion of Valorant Champions 2021.
With Champions not even in the rearview mirror yet, Riot is wasting no time in building hype for the upcoming 2022 season, which will kick off in February this year. There are a number of interesting 2022 VCT details ahead in the next year. These include a new international Game Changers, a new tournament circuit in the offseason, and an expanded Challengers system.
Changes ahead for the 2022 VCT
Here are the biggest changes ahead for the 2022 VCT:
- A new Challengers format designed to expand play regionally between top teams. Each Challenger split will see a single open qualifier leading into multiple weeks of play between top teams. This finishes with a large tournament to crown a single victor and qualifiy teams for international Masters competitions.
- The first Challengers runs from February through March, seeding an April Masters. The second Challenger split runs May through June seeding a July Masters.
- The rest of the VCT resumes as usual with Last Chance Qualifiers in August, followed by Valorant Champions in September.
- A new tournament circuit is launching after Champions in the new offseason in partnership with third party organizers. This will run from October through November, with promises that no event on this circuit will overlap with others in order to "capture the attention of the whole fanbase.
International Game Changers in Q4 2022
Lastly, the year concludes with a global Game Changers event, the format for which was not described in the release. However, Esports.gg has learned from a Riot representative that there will be Game Changers events throughout the year which will qualify Game Changers teams for the Q4 global Game Changers event, which will run after Champions in 2022.
The new global Game Changers, in particular, is a pride point for Riot Games:
“In 2022, we’re going to double down on our efforts by launching a new global tournament that will feature the best teams from Game Changers programs around the world. This event will bring the best teams together into a single, massive competition for the first time. We’re thrilled to take this next step to grow VALORANT into the social experience our players deserve.”
Valorant Champions will conclude this weekend, with Semifinals matches running on December 11, and Grand Finals on December 12 at 9 AM Pacific. More details on the specific regional Challengers events will be shared by each region at a later date.
For all the latest on the Valorant Champions Tour, be sure to keep it locked here to Esports.gg.