by Riot Games has announced that Valorant Champions 2023 will be held in Los Angeles, making it the first international Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) event to take place in North America.
Valorant Champions 2023 will begin on August 6 with early rounds at the Shrine Auditorium, followed by the final rounds and grand final on August 26 at the Kia Forum.
Valorant announced the location during the broadcast of the VCT LOCK//IN grand final, which also coincided with the announcement of the newest Valorant agent, Gekko.
The season-ending tournament will feature 16 of the top Valorant teams from North America, South America, Europe, and Asia, although the allocation of slots per region still unknown.
This is where champions are made.
VALORANT Champions 2023 is coming to Los Angeles in August. It all starts at the Shrine Expo Hall and ends at the Kia Forum. Get the details with Anna and Leo. pic.twitter.com/YhCOrboRnc
— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT) March 4, 2023
Anna Donlon, Valorant Senior Vice President & Studio Head, spoke about the decision to locate the tournament in Los Angeles.
“We were finally in a position where we could host an event in LA,” Donlon said.
“With Riot’s headquarters being in LA and a lot of us being from LA, we were really excited to bring an event there.”
The VCT Champions 2022 tournament was held in Istanbul, where LOUD defeated OpTic Gaming in the grand final.
With over 1.5 million concurrent viewers, that event holds the record for highest peak viewership in Valorant esports history.
