Game publisher Riot Games has announced that VALORANT Champions 2023 will take place in Los Angeles, California.
Taking place in August, VALORANT Champions will officially close out the 2023 VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT).
This is the first-ever international VALORANT tournament to take place in North America.
According to the announcement, the tournament will be hosted across two locations in the US city. The Shrine Auditorium will host the VALORANT Champions’ opening rounds (August 6th-20th), with the event concluding at the Kia Forum. In total, 16 teams will compete at VALORANT Champions with the final occurring on August 26th.
Last season’s VCT Champions event is the most popular tournament in the title’s short history, recording a peak viewership of 1.5m and an average viewership of 525,817, according to Esports Charts.
The 2023 VCT season officially got underway last month, with the VCT LOCK//IN tournament concluding last weekend. Alongside the introduction of the LOCK/IN event, VALORANT underwent significant ecosystem changes, which included introducing a partner team model and international leagues.
The LOCK//IN tournament was ultimately won by European esports organisation Fnatic, beating local team LOUD 3-2. As a result, Fnatic has gained the EMEA International League an additional qualifying sport for VCT Masters Tokyo, set to take place in June.
VALORANT Champions’ location announcement also somewhat coincides with the release of the title’s newest agent (character) — Gekko. The character was announced at the same time as VALORANT Champions Los Angeles, which is where Gekko is based in the game.
Riot Games has stated that information regarding tickets, as well as additional details surrounding the international event will be disclosed in the coming months.