RIOT Games Announces First Global VALORANT Tournament

Riot Games has announced the first-ever global VALORANT tournament: The First Strike series. With the finals set to take place from December 3-6, this will be the first time that North America meets Europe in the battle of the powerhouses.

First Strike may be seen as the logical successor of the Ignition Series, a campaign that Riot Games had initiated to launch VALORANT's esports scene. During the Ignition Series, different tournament organisers from all around the world had hosted events with different formats, testing the waters for a unified ruleset for VALORANT esports.

Lately, bigger tournament organisers like B Site Inc, Blast Premier and WePlay! had made an entrance into the scene, hosting Ignition Series tournaments. While First Strike carries the mission of driving VALORANT as an esport forward, it is also the first time Riot will host a tournament series themselves directly.#

Teams from all over the globe will compete in the First Strike series, with open qualifiers in Europe, North America, Asia, Oceania, and South America kicking off this October. With a prize pool yet to be announced, it will give opportunities for amateur and professional sides to compete to be the first VALORANT global champion.

Whalen Rozelle, Senior Director of Esports at Riot Games, said in a press release that "VALORANT is a deeply competitive title with global appeal and the necessary elements to become the next premier esport.

"First Strike will provide our thriving competitive ecosystem with the platform to showcase their greatness, build [a] regional legacy, and a foundation that will support the esport for years to come.”

More details will be announced in the following weeks as the qualifiers will get underway in October.

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Image via Riot Games | Unsplash Greg Rosenke