VALORANT Masters 2023 will be held in Tokyo, the capital city of Japan, as announced by Riot Games on the nation’s official VALORANT channel. In a video showcasing the growth of the esport scene in the land of the rising sun, Riot announced that it’s time for Japan esports to move to “the next stage,” and will do so by hosting in June the second international event for VCT 2023.
From the Master stage 2 of 2021 in Reykjavík to the VCT Champions in Istanbul last September, Japanese teams and players have climbed the ranks of VALORANT’s international competitions. The audience has also seen an increase in numbers, with the highest peak registered by the official VALORANT streaming channel on Twitch counting only 62 thousands viewers in 2012 compared to the 20222 peak reaching almost 120 thousand, according to streamcharts statistics. Overall, Riot described the Japanese VALORANT community to have grown by “leaps and bounds” over the past 12 months.
In addition to the significant achievements reached by the VALORANT community in the country, Riot has also shown interest in bringing VALORANT events to a variety of nations spanning all continents. This will empower and nurture the game’s communities around the world equally, keeping up the curiosity of where the next VCT 2023 stage will be held.
Before reaching Japan though, VALORANT teams will compete in the kickoff tournament in Brazil, which Riot labeled as their “largest international tournament in VCT history” so far. The kickoff tournament will last three weeks and will leave space for regional leagues only in early March. According to the roadmap for 2023 the international competition will then resume in June with Masters Tokyo and will feature the top three teams from the regional leagues for a total of nine teams competing for the title. The winner of VCT Masters will directly qualify for the final and most important tournament of the year: VCT Champions.
The road to Champions is still far, but VALORANT fans can now be certain that the two main international tournaments before that will be held in two continents. With the VALORANT Champions Tourn embracing the whole globe fans would certainly be excited to have a chance to follow their favorite esport live near their home.
