Riot expands VCT 2027 with open qualifiers and new team payments

Riot Games will restructure the 2027 VALORANT Champions Tour, replacing regional leagues with open qualifiers and Cup tournaments and revising how partnered and independent teams enter events and receive payments.

Details posted by the company outline a system in which access to top events is earned through open play. In the Americas, Pacific and EMEA, each Kickoff will feature 12 teams: eight partnered organizations and four teams from open qualifiers. The top three from each regional Kickoff will advance to the first Masters of the year. After Kickoff, no team will receive automatic invitations based on partnered status.

The season will use promotion and relegation. Poor results at Cups or Masters can send teams to Open Playoffs or back to the next open qualifiers. Teams that reach events through open qualifiers can keep their earned slots if they retain at least three of their five players.

Regional formats will differ in a few cases. In China, eight partnered teams and two guest teams will receive direct invitations to Kickoff and to the first two Cups. In the Pacific, a Last Chance Qualifier will offer teams from South Asia and Oceania a path to Kickoff and Cup events.

The 2027 calendar will run in sequence: Kickoff, the first Masters, Cups 1, the second Masters, Cups 2, and the season-ending Champions tournament. Masters events will draw top performers from regional competition, while the Cups provide repeated qualification paths and determine movement between tiers.

Financial support for independent organizations will expand. Non-partnered teams that qualify for major events will receive participation payments in addition to prize pools: $100,000 for reaching a Kickoff or a Cup, $200,000 for Masters, and $400,000 for Champions. A $100,000 bonus will be paid to non-partnered teams that qualify for the Game Changers Championship, the women’s VALORANT finale.

Partnered teams will remain part of the ecosystem with a narrower advantage. In the Americas, Pacific and EMEA, the eight partnered organizations per region will receive direct entry to Kickoff only. All subsequent invitations will depend on results across Cups, Masters and Open Playoffs.

VCT is the top-tier global VALORANT circuit, and Game Changers is the dedicated women’s competition. The update was shared through Riot Games’ social media channels.

Earlier, we reported that Riot disabled Valorant’s Breeze map in competitive queues after bugs surfaced.