VCT Pacific 2026 revealed roadshow cities and discussed big changes, like the triple-elimination bracket and new Skirmish side selection.
2026 is bound to be a big year for VCT Pacific, and Riot was glad to discuss details like host cities for roadshows, the region's growth over the past year, and plans beyond.
VCT Pacific 2026 final venues and roadshows
The VCT Pacific team revealed the locations of two roadshows for 2026.
The Stage 1 Finals to be held in May will take place in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. According to Jake Sin, Head of VALORANT Esports in Asia-Pacific, the team is excited to bring VCT closer to fans.
"This'll be our first official Tier 1 VCT event in Vietnam, and I'm so excited to bring VCT Pacific to a new region within APAC," said Sin. "Our Vietnamese player community and viewers have been growing extremely rapidly over the past few years. In fact, Vietnamese is now one of our top 5 languages in terms of VCT viewership."
Stage 2 Finals in September will be held in Busan, South Korea.
How VCT Pacific grows viewers and talents
David Hong, VCT Pacific Product Lead, is proud of the growth of the region throughout 2025. "APAC has proven to be a real powerhouse in terms of fandom. Last year, VCT Pacific reached a peak of 430,000 concurrent viewers, and an average of 160,000 viewers across the season," revealed Hong. "Our first-ever Masters in Southeast Asia, Masters Bangkok, reached 5.2 million peak viewers, making it the most successful VCT Masters in history."
He added that viewership has doubled in some regions, including South Korea and Vietnam.
Sin then discussed the importance of having homegrown talent. "We had 17 players from Challengers join VCT Pacific, and five amateur players made their debut last year."
The most famous example, of course, is PatMen, who started in the Challengers League in the Philippines, and he made a huge impact last year by winning Masters Toronto with PRX, earning both Rookie of the Year and Initiator of the Year [at the VCT Pacific Awards 2026] at the same time.
VCT Pacific in 2026 and beyond
Big changes are coming to the region in the coming years. For 2026, Kickoff will feature the title's first triple-elimination bracket.
This is the fruit of learning from previous years of competitive VALORANT play, according to Hong. "We're very intentional in the way we designed this new format. Our main goals were to accomplish three things. One, more playtime for our teams, two, more matches for our fans, and three, more meaningful opportunities for competition."
The esports calendar is also being reworked to reduce the downtime for teams that don't qualify for international tournaments.
Another big change is Skirmish, which will now determine the side selection for a given map and will replace the coin toss traditionally used in other titles. This change mirrors a similar system being implemented in LoL Esports.
With the new Challengers Path to Champions now offering slots to VCT Pacific Stage 2 Playoffs, non-partner teams now have a clear shot at the Champions trophy. "Thinking ahead to 2027 and beyond, our goal for the future is to make the VCT more open, so this change is a step towards building a path to pro that is more competitive, merit-based, and open," said Sin.
VCT Pacific 2026 Kickoff runs from Jan. 22 to Feb. 15. The top three teams from this tournament qualify for the first Masters of the year: Masters Santiago.
