Riot Games Southeast Asia has announced a collegiate esports tournament plan for VALORANT in 2021.
Players in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Hong Kong will be able to participate in official, regional esports and collegiate competition.
RELATED: Riot Games reveals debut self-ran VALORANT event, First Strike
Collegiate partners will work with the colleges and universities of the region to build up a series of tournaments for students. These same partners will run a series of merit-based qualifiers for VALORANT First Strike.
Partners include:
- Mineski Philippines for Philippines Esports, Philippines Collegiate
- AcadArena for Philippines Collegiate
- The Gaming Company for Malaysia Esports and Collegiate, and Singapore Esports
- Professional Gamers League and Eliphant for Singapore Collegiate
- Talon for Hong Kong Esports and Collegiate, and Taiwan Esports
- Taiwan Mobile and TeSL for Taiwan Collegiate
- ESL for Thailand Esports and Collegiate
- ONE Up for Indonesia Esports and Collegiate
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RELATED: BLAST expands into VALORANT with Ignition Series event
Chris Tran, Head of Esports at Riot Games Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, commented on the new series in a release: ”Players have asked and we’re excited to answer. In Southeast Asia, the appetite for VALORANT esports has been tremendous and we are pleased to partner with the region’s leading esports organizations to introduce new heights of competitive play to the region.”
When VALORANT launched earlier this year, Riot Games allowed third-party event organisers to produce the first competitions. The Ignition Series was announced in June with over 20 partners and over $1 million (£784,770) in prize winnings globally. In September, Riot debuted its first self-run VALORANT tournament series, First Strike.
Esports Insider says: Collegiate esports is the new frontier for game publishers to reach audiences and create a recruitment ecosystem for global organisations. When Riot said it would take a “hands off” approach to VALORANT esports, we knew it would just be a matter of time before the publisher took control of the helm.