Riot Games Global Head of Valorant Esports Leo Faria announced Friday that the company will bring the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Masters to Shanghai in 2024 Summer. “To celebrate the one-year anniversary of Valorant in China, we are very excited to bring Masters to Shanghai,” Faria said in an announcement video.
Shanghai is a global esports city that has hosted multiple large-scale international esports competitions in the past, including the League of Legends World Championship 2020, and Dota 2’s The International 2019. Riot Games China is also headquartered in Shanghai. In addition, Counter-Strike-focused media outlet HLTV.org also reported that Valve is targeting Shanghai for the second Counter-Strike 2 Major in early December of 2024. Multiple sources within China and a representative from PGL have confirmed with The Esports Advocate that the two companies are working together to bring this to fruition (PGL and Perfect World have been working together since 2017).
2023 is the first year that Riot Games has decided to host international competitions for Valorant. The VCT Lock/In 2023 was hosted in St. Paulo, Brazil, and VCT Masters 2023 was hosted in Tokyo, Japan. The upcoming Valorant Champions 2023 will be hosted in Los Angeles, featuring $2.25M in total prize money. In 2024, Riot Games will host two VCT Masters but it has not confirmed the location for the first VCT Masters Spring.