As we get closer and closer to the start of the partnership era of VALORANT and the beginning of the 2023 VALORANT Champions Tour season, Riot is releasing more vital details. And today, it officially unveiled the 2023 VCT schedule.
There will be top-tier level VALORANT virtually every day during the regular seasons, with the exception of Tuesdays.
- VCT EMEA matches are scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, beginning at 11am CT.
- VCT Pacific matches are scheduled for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, beginning at 3am CT.
- VCT Americas matches are scheduled for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, beginning at 2pm CT.
In its Esports Broadcast Update post, the Riot Games Esports team explained its reasoning for how it scheduled pro VALORANT and League of Legends matches beginning in 2023. One of the biggest goals for the team was to avoid overlap between different regions within the same game, and different games in the same region.
VCT Americas matches take place on different days than the LCS, and VCT EMEA matches take place on different days than the LEC. Additionally, viewers who just love VALORANT could in theory watch matches from all three global leagues without having matches from different regions overlap each other.
Aside from overlap that makes fans have to choose between matches, Riot also wanted to reduce instances of binge-watching, reporting that 45 percent of surveyed viewers said they felt “exhausted” after a full day of League esports.
For VALORANT and the VCT, though, these schedules will not be officially used until the second split of the 2023 calendar, which won’t start until around April or May. For the inaugural year featuring the partnered global leagues, the first split of the year will be replaced with the LOCK//IN event in São Paulo, Brazil that features all 30 partnered teams.
