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Valorant, 2025 Esports Annual Roadmap Revealed
Source: Riot Games
In 2025, you can watch VALORANT esports matches starting in January.
Riot Games (Korea CEO Cho Hyuk-jin), the developer and distributor of the 5v5 character-based tactical shooter game 'VALORANT,' has announced the roadmap for the 2025 VALORANT esports season.
In 2025, 12 teams will participate in each of the four international leagues—Pacific, EMEA, Americas, and CN. More teams will compete as teams that passed the Ascension held in each international league in September and October this year join. The 2025 season kicks off in January, earlier than this year.
◆ From January VCT Pacific Kickoff to Bangkok, Toronto, and Paris
Starting with the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) Kickoff, the first tournament of the year, each team competes in the international league stage and the international tournament Masters, and then participates in Champions, the most prestigious VALORANT esports tournament, to compete for the title of world champion. The international league stage of the 2025 season will be held twice a year, with Masters held in Bangkok, Thailand in February and Toronto, Canada in June. Champions, which determines the best VALORANT esports team of the 2025 season, will be held in Paris, France in September.
The kickoff opening day for VALORANT esports varies by region. VCT Pacific, which includes Korean teams, will open on January 18, with a total of 12 teams participating, including the team promoted from the Pacific Ascension held this year. Details of the Pacific Kickoff operation will be released within the year.
The kickoff will be played in a double-elimination bracket with all 12 teams participating. The top 4 teams that advanced to Champions Seoul in 2024 will advance directly to the second round, and the remaining 8 teams will face off in the first round. The top 1st and 2nd place teams in each region with the highest scores in the kickoff will receive direct tickets to the VALORANT Masters Bangkok, the first international tournament in 2025.
Stage 1, which takes place after Masters, will be a single round robin tournament divided into 2 groups of 6 teams each, instead of the full round robin format that was previously used. As a result, the top 4 teams from each group, a total of 8 teams, will advance to the playoffs.
In the playoffs, the first-place teams in each group among the 8 teams that advanced will advance to the second round first, and the fourth-place teams will play in a double-elimination format starting in the lower bracket.
The top 3 teams from each region in the Stage 1 playoffs will advance to Masters Toronto in June.
Stage 2, which will be held from July, will proceed in the same way. However, the two groups will be reorganized, and only the top two teams will earn a ticket to Champions Paris.
◆ Direct trip to Paris with Championship Points… Top 2 teams in each region given seeds
VALORANT esports has adjusted the championship point system for the 2025 season to encourage fierce competition throughout the season and increase the importance of each game. In 2025, VALORANT esports will award championship points for all tournaments, the same as in 2024, but the difference is the point distribution method for each tournament.
Major tournaments such as Kickoff, Playoffs, and Masters have been changed to award championship points to multiple top teams. The top 4 teams will be awarded points in the regional Kickoff and Playoffs, and the Stage 2 Playoffs will have a higher score than the Stage 1 Playoffs. At the international tournament Masters Bangkok, the top 4 teams will be awarded points, and at Masters Toronto, the top 6 teams will be awarded points. Finally, in the Stage 1 and 2 regular leagues and playoffs, you will earn 1 point for each win, the same as in 2024.
The top 2 teams in each region with the highest cumulative points for the year will be awarded 2 Champions seeds. A total of 16 teams, four from each region determined by Championship Points and Stage 2 Playoffs results, will participate in Champions in September.
Webzine Inven윤서호 기자
2024-11-27