Riot Games unveils initial approach to esports for VALORANT

Riot Games has released its initial esports plans for its free-to-play first-person shooter title, VALORANT.

The developer has unveiled the core pillars of its efforts and community competition guidelines.

RELATED: Riot Games announces Teamfight Tactics: Galaxy Championship

Riot Games claims competitive integrity, accessibility, and authenticity are at the forefront of its plans for VALORANT’s competitive endeavours. It’s looking to make the game accommodating to aspiring professional players with “merit-based competition.”

The community guidelines have been devised to guide third-party tournament organisers when it comes to planning events on the first-person shooter. 

RELATED: Riot Games to implement long-term partnerships in LCK

The developer also revealed that it has met with over 100 esports organisations to share its plans for the title and to gather feedback. It did not name any of the organisations it has maintained a dialogue with, however.

Whalen Rozelle, Senior Director of Global Esports at Riot Games, spoke on the announcement in a release: “We’re overwhelmed by the initial interest and excitement in VALORANT. We have massive dreams for what this game can be as an esport, and we’re excited to embark on this long esports journey with our players. Our primary focus early on will be forming partnerships with players, content creators, tournament organizers, and developers – unlocking them to help us to build the VALORANT ecosystem.“

Esports Insider says: VALORANT was built with competitive in play so it’s not a huge surprise that it’s allowing third-party organisers to get involved with hosting events before it (presumably) steps in to take more control over the ecosystem as it has done with League of Legends. Building a competitive community appears to be high on the developer’s list of priorities, which is assuring.

Read The Esports Journal