Riot Games has come under fire after announcing the VCT 2023 Game Changers Championship in Brazil for the lack of spots for Brazilian teams and the small venue.
Riot Games announced that it is bringing back the VCT Game Changers Championship in 2023 for the women’s circuit on March 20. The tournament will see eight teams battle for a shot at the championship trophy in Brazil.
But Riot quickly came under fire as the event features the same amount of teams as last year, gives only one spot for the home region of Brazil and will be held in a venue with a capacity of about 150 people, according to a post from the Liquipedia Valorant Twitter account.
not a fan of the venue size or of the tournament format— 8 teams feel so little, especially when Brazil only gets one slot. 10-12 teams seems like a good amount for an international event that only happens once a year for GC.goes without saying that 150 seats isn’t enough.. https://t.co/nbdD6rcijV
— SR meL (@melanji) March 20, 2023
Prominent pros like Version1’s Melanie ‘meL’ Capone, Shopify Rebellion’s Benita ‘bENITA’ Novshadian and 2022 championship winner Michaela ‘mimi’ Lintrup commented on the size of the venue on Twitter and called for changes to be made.
The Global Head of Valorant Esports at Riot, Leo Faria, responded to the criticisms about the venue, saying that he believes the smaller venue is the right move for the tournament.
“We’re not trying to grow the Game Changers Championship to the size of Masters and Champions. We want women playing at Masters and Champions,” Faria said.
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We believe our studios and venues of similar size around the world are the right choice for the tournament. We’re not trying to grow the Game Changers Championship to the size of Masters and Champions. We want women playing at Masters and Champions.
— Leo Faria (@lhfaria) March 20, 2023
Game Changers Championship regional slots criticized
Members of the Brazilian community also came at Riot for the region’s lack of spots at the event. Out of the eight teams invited to the event, only one will come from Brazil. Only EMEA and North America were given more than one slot in the tournament.
Valorant caster Letícia Motta, along with other prominent coaches in the Brazilian scene, expressed some surprise that their region will only have one representative given the investment in the women’s scene by other regional organizations.
Esperava que a divisão de vagas fosse um pouco diferente esse ano, vimos que o cenário inclusivo só cresceu, inclusive com o investimento de novas organizações!Valeria muito 3 EMEA, 2NA, 2 BR, 1 LATAM, 2 SEA e 2 JP/KR/CH – 12 equipes pic.twitter.com/7Lx0efpWVw
— Letícia Motta (@leticiaxmotta) March 20, 2023
Motta even went as far as suggesting 12 teams be let into the tournament, with Brazil, EMEA, South East Asia and Japan/ Korea/ China receiving one more slot each.
Team Liquid’s Paula ‘bstrdd’ Naguil, who finished third at the 2022 VCT Game Changers Championship, said that she was “happy and sad at the same time” with the 2023 tournament’s announcement.
Fans of VCT Game Changers can keep up to date with the schedule and qualified teams for the event at Dexerto.
