Valorant is about to get its first world circuit tour competition in the form of the Valorant Champions Tour from Riot Games. But when Riot Games announce the news of this new tournament it seemed to have left out India which infuriated the India gaming community.
And now according to a report by IGN India, Riot Games is considering giving an India team the opportunity to participate in the Valorant Champions Tour. This team will be selected via a nationwide tournament, according to the report.
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Riot's Valorant Champions will be a first-of-its-kind global competitive circuit that will have year-long regional competitions that lead up to a Champions event. When this was announced at the beginning of the year without any mention of India the community in India called out the company and claimed that India does not even exist for it.
While currently, Riot Games' India operations consist of only two people, the company has reportedly reached out to multiple stakeholders that are part of the local gaming community to ensure that the plans ensue.
In fact, the initial omission of India from the tournament roster and the low profile of the company was surprising considering that the company claimed that it was thrilled at the response from India at the launch of Valorant.
The report claims that many stakeholders in the gaming community commented on this behaviour from Riot Games and said that this was probably because it wanted to avoid attention because of the onslaught on China-owned tech companies. For the record, Riot Games is owned by Tencent.
This also brings into question how much of a presence Riot Games will have in the tournament if it takes place in India. This also brings into question the fairness of play in such a tournament. How much accountability will there be on Riot if third party organisers arrange the tournament? We will have to wait and see.
