As esports continues to grow, Riot Games is celebrating the VALORANT Champions Tour Pacific League, strengthening its mark around Asia.
Riot Games recently held a kick-off party last 17 March 2023, to celebrate the upcoming VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) Pacific League 2023 at the Podium Hall, Mandaluyong City, Philippines.
The video game developer invited many people in the VALORANT community, including famous influencers, such as ‘Razzie Binx’, streamers like ‘Aryanna,’ and cosplayers such as ‘Charess.’ On top of this, there were even those lucky enough to win a free invite to the celebrations, as Riot Games aims to strengthen its mark in the Philippines and the Asia Pacific Region.
New VALORANT Champions
This year, Riot created a new structure on how the VALORANT Champions Tour works, with VCT Pacific League expanding to cover not only SEA but all of Asia Pacific, including Japan, South Asia, and India.
Fans during the party expressed their support and excitement towards our Philippine representatives from Team Secret who are currently in Seoul preparing for the tournament.
The team is currently composed of:
- Jessie Cristy “Jessievash” Cuyco,
- Jayvee “Dubstep” Paguirigan,
- Jim “BORKUM” Timbreza,
- Jeremy “Jremy” Cabrera, and
- Adrian “invy” Reyes,
Along with Singaporean reserve You Xiang (Lionel) “Lenne” Lim, and American coach Evan “Warbirds” Orzem.
Other teams who will be playing to be the very first VCT Pacific Champions include:
- Rex Regum Qeon (Indonesia/Phils.),
- DetonatioN FocusMe (Japan),
- DRX (Korea),
- Gen.G (Korea),
- Global Esports (India),
- T1 (Korea),
- Talon Esports (Thailand)
- Zeta Division (Japan).
“The Filipino community is one of the biggest and most passionate VALORANT communities in the region,” Joel Guzman, Country Manager of Riot Games Philippines, said at the event.
“The start of this new competitive league in the Philippines is a natural step for our continued expansion in APAC, having already established a strong and growing presence in the region. We are committed to creating hyper-local experiences in the region, tailored to meet the needs of their passionate VALORANT players.”
Future of Philippine Esports
After the presentation, The GAME was able to ask Joel Guzman about what their plans are for the future of the Philippine esports scene.
He shared that there are bigger things to look forward to in the future, including an offline aspect of the tournament sometime this June. Guzman also said that they will release more details about this in the near future.
More Filipinos are now playing VALORANT, and it would not be long before other Filipino teams make their mark on the international community, just as Team Secret has.
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