Riot doesn’t want Game Changers to be VALORANT’s WNBA, esports head says

The announcement of the venue and format for the VALORANT Game Changers Championship in 2023 has drawn some criticism from pro players and fans, primarily due to a format and venue size that did not get bigger from last year.

While the news has been disappointing to those that participate, the head of VALORANT esports in Leo Faria has explained the reasons behind the decision, citing costs but most importantly Riot’s goal of a single, diverse VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) ecosystem instead of two separate ones.

“Our vision for the VCT is to be a sport that reflects the diverse community of VALORANT,” Faria wrote on the game’s competitive subreddit. “Where men and women play together. Where we can crown the one (not two) best VALORANT team in the world every season.”

“Game Changers aims to create those opportunities and open the doors of our sport for women, in front and behind the cameras,” he continued. “It’s natural to want to do more. More tournaments, more teams, bigger venues, bigger prize pools. But we want to grow the impact, not the scope of Game Changers. Growing the scope contradicts that vision of having one single sport, and puts us on a path of creating a second sport for women (eg. the WNBA).”

The response from Faria does line up with what Game Changers has been billed as; an ecosystem designed to give women and marginalized genders a space to compete within a scene that has historically not been the most welcoming. But Game Changers has always been advertised as a part of VCT, and not as a separate ecosystem, and the players themselves have long been at the forefront of encouraging other players to compete in open tournaments outside of Game Changers.

But Faria also acknowledged that the financial cost issue of running the event at a larger venue. Faria said that the Game Changers Championship “already requires an investment of several million dollars, plus the work of hundreds of Rioters and partners from all around the world,” and that increasing the event to a Masters-size tournament rapidly escalates the amount of work and infrastructure needs that arise.

Faria added that by hosting at an already existing Riot venue, like the CBLOL Arena in São Paulo, the team can focus on things like “features, content, store telling, dope visuals, a better broadcast.”