First Strike: the first globally operated regional tournaments announced by Riot Games

Written By Staff Writer Staff Writer
Last UpdatedSeptember 23, 2020 at 03:00PM
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With the culmination of the Ignition Series partnership program that was announced back in June 2020, not only viewers but most importantly professional players were very curious and vocal about what Riot Games plan to do next for VALORANT.

Ignition Series was without a doubt a huge success for both sides: Riot as the publisher of the game, and all of the over 20 partners that joined forces with them across multiple regions to bring the desired exposure and recognition for the brand new FPS game on the market. Since the game’s release over six months ago, the total prize money distributed among the teams and players exceeded $1,000,000 USD.

Riot introduced that series as “an official Riot-partner program where we spotlight a few tournaments each week, help discover talented players, and build global recognition for top VALORANT pros and teams.” Right now, the situation is a bit different as the newly announced First Strike will be the first series of global tournaments operated and organized by Riot Games to find out which teams are the best in regional competition.

From the official press release issued by Riot Games:

“VALORANT is a deeply competitive title with global appeal and the necessary elements to become the next premier esport,” said Whalen Rozelle, Senior Director of Esports at Riot Games. “First Strike will provide our thriving competitive ecosystem with the platform to showcase their greatness, build regional legacy, and a foundation that will support the esport for years to come.”

First Strike will be a global set of tournaments, composed of multiple regional finals taking place across North America, Europe, CIS, Turkey, Asia, Oceania, Brazil, and the Middle East. Each region will host a series of merit-based qualifiers, resulting in multiple Riot-produced, top eight First Strike Finals, running from December 3 - 6. The winners will earn the right to call themselves the first official regional VALORANT champions. Both professional teams and aspiring amateur squads will have opportunities to qualify for the First Strike finals through online tournaments operated by premier esports organizations.

“Esports remains one of the best investments we can make to support our community for the long term,” said Anna Donlon, Executive Producer of VALORANT. “As we’ve already seen from the Ignition Series, there’s a huge demand and hunger for VALORANT to be played at a professional level, and we’re so excited to be starting that journey with fans, players, and organizations. As a development team, supporting the competitive world of VALORANT is one of our top priorities, and we are committed to this journey.”

According to the news shared on the official VALORANT website for Latin America, more news regarding the future of the tournaments in that region will be shared on a later date.

Many things are still unknown about First Strike. We can expect more news to be released in the upcoming days, such as dates, the exact prize pool, and the process of qualification.

What do you think about the bigger involvement of Riot Games in the growing esports ecosystem of VALORANT? Do you think the quality of the events will be even better now that the studio will be the one in charge of operating them? Which regions are you finding the most exciting to watch? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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Comments

Sh!t.. Aight, so I'ma need NVIDIA to produce more 3080's VERY SOON..
23 Sep 2020, 15:23 PM
in how many different websites you posted this comment lol?
23 Sep 2020, 20:43 PM
In this and vlr. Why does that bother you?
23 Sep 2020, 22:31 PM
it doesnt, just seemed funny
24 Sep 2020, 07:38 AM
THIS IS POGGGGGGGG
23 Sep 2020, 15:24 PM
+1

Shahzam said something big was coming, this is what he meant
23 Sep 2020, 15:51 PM
December seems so far away ????
23 Sep 2020, 15:56 PM
I'm pretty sure it means the regional finals will be in Dec. We will get tourneys leading up to the finals.
23 Sep 2020, 16:26 PM
Yeah regional qualifyers start mid october! Super hyped?✊
23 Sep 2020, 16:53 PM
Hopefully they can do a lan somewhere in Europe with the top teams of each region. I doubt they would do this but I think they should take the top 2 from each region.
23 Sep 2020, 17:24 PM
I mean the regional champion and runner up from this tourney
23 Sep 2020, 17:24 PM
yeah that's probably too complicated right now but maybe we will see that in 2021 :)
24 Sep 2020, 06:18 AM
Looking foward to seeing new talented players getting a chance at something bigger.
23 Sep 2020, 16:31 PM
I cant imagine how you are feeling right now, being a DIG fan after shanks and poised got dropped for matchfixing
24 Sep 2020, 12:35 PM
We're excited for our next step for VALORANT esports. While First Strike will crown regional champions in December, we currently anticipate that November will be full of regional qualifiers. Many of our regions are planning to execute multiple events that will qualify teams into the First Strike finals, so we expect an exciting fall with tons of competition around the world!
23 Sep 2020, 17:38 PM
Really glad to see these tournaments announced. I'm excited for the promising future this game has!
23 Sep 2020, 18:20 PM
will it be LAN for Grand Finals?
23 Sep 2020, 18:25 PM
This is quite excitig. Looking forward to it.
23 Sep 2020, 19:04 PM
very pog!
24 Sep 2020, 14:55 PM
Will be interesting to see how it pans out heading into the new year
23 Sep 2020, 18:16 PM
what middle east tournament? who can play with minimum 95 ping? your servers are not yet ready for anyone in my region to compete...
23 Sep 2020, 18:27 PM
exactly... so no middle east tournament.
26 Sep 2020, 12:11 PM
really? imagine pro player will have a problem with hit-reg in the tournament :D must be fun to see you clearly shoot his head but it says you body shoot him
23 Sep 2020, 21:37 PM
Hasn't been a problem in any of the tourneys so far
24 Sep 2020, 15:32 PM
cant waaaaait
24 Sep 2020, 09:56 AM
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