After a couple of successful series in North America, Riot Games is expanding its VCT Game Changers program of VALORANT tournaments exclusive to women and marginalized groups to EMEA.
These tournaments will consist of players competing from Europe, Turkey, CIS, the Middle East, and North Africa. They’ll begin at the end of September.
Three tournaments have been announced to take place over a two-month period beginning at the end of the month:
- EMEA Game Changers One: Sept. 27 to Oct. 3.
- EMEA Game Changers Two: Oct. 25 to 31.
- EMEA Game Changers Three: Nov. 15 to 21.
Residency in one of the EMEA countries is required for at least three players on a team’s roster. Players also need to be at minimum Platinum One and 16 years old.
EMEA Game Changers One and Two will be open qualifier events, which can each feature up to 64 teams of all women competing. Game Changers Two will be a special “All-in” tournament, where mixed teams will be able to compete as long as there are at least three women on a roster. Both of these events will have €20,000 prize pools, while the third and final EMEA Game Changers event will give out €50,000.
The Game Changers Series was created with the idea of providing an environment for women to compete in esports that’s more encouraging and free of the harassment and negativity that’s so often directed at female players. The first two North American series have seen some great matches, with Cloud9 Blue claiming victory at both tournaments and eyeing a third in late September. After their Game Changers Two win, they credited their willingness to compete against men’s teams in open qualifier events as a key difference-maker and implored other female teams to do the same.
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