Game developer and publisher Riot Games has unveiled the 10 partner teams competing in the inaugural VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) China 2024 season.
China becomes the fourth VCT regional league, joining the Americas, EMEA and Pacific leagues which began in 2023.
The partner teams will kick off their VALORANT Champions Tour China campaign in February 2024 with the VCT 2024: China KICK-OFF tournament. The top two teams from the tournament will qualify for the VCT Madrid Masters, taking place in March 2024 as the first international tournament of the year.
In total, the 2024 VALORANT Champions Tour China season will feature eleven teams. In addition to the ten partner teams, one team will qualify for the league through the VALORANT China Ascension 2023 event beginning on December 23rd.
The 10 VCT China partner teams that will compete in 2024 include:
- All Gamers
- BilBili Gaming
- EDward Gaming
- Titan Esports Club
- TYLOO
- Nova Esports
- JD Gaming
- Trace Esports
- Wolves Esports
- FunPlus Phoenix
VALORANT officially launched in China in July 2023, three years after the game’s global launch, though many played the game unofficially prior to its launch. The game is distributed in China via Chinese video game conglomerate Tencent, which also owns VALORANT developer Riot Games.
Riot officially confirmed in August that China would get its own VCT league. Chinese esports organisation FunPlus Phoenix (FPX) rebranded its VALORANT roster ZHUQUE to the FPX name in January in anticipation of the launch.
VALORANT is quickly becoming a leading FPS esports title in the country, with its launch coming shortly after domestically popular hero shooter Overwatch 2 went offline in China.
While no further detail has been revealed regarding partner teams in China, VCT partner teams in other regional leagues receive permanent slots as well as revenue sharing from the league.
In addition to the new VCT league, VALORANT Masters is also heading to Shanghai as the second VCT Masters event of the upcoming competitive season.
China is the largest commercial esports market. In August 2023, a government-affiliated report claimed the country’s domestic esports industry generated revenues of 75.99bn yuan (~£8.31bn, $10.6bn) in the first half of the year — though this likely includes game revenue.
