How VALORANT Franchising Can Hurt the Grassroots Scene

Earlier this season, Riot announced that they’d be making some big changes to the VALORANT scene starting in 2023. Their plan, dubbed “The Future of Competitive VALORANT,” includes introducing a partnership model, Valorant Franchising, that selects a certain small group of pro teams to compete in their tournaments.

[Related: Shroud joins Sentinels for the NA LCQ]

The move is set to follow suit with League of Legends, which offered the same deal starting in 2017. According to Riot, this will allow them to better support the best teams, collaborate more closely and create a more engaging esports experience. It will help those teams get more reliable sponsors and allow them to plan ahead for the future.

However, this gatekeeping also drastically changes the competitive scene. Earlier this year, The Guard made headlines as a high-scoring underdog that came out of nowhere to compete in VCT. Despite only having been formed late last fall, they still came out victorious and even made it to Stage One Masters. This kind of exciting rise to fame won’t be allowed in the new VALORANT scene.

Partnership contracts are slated to last, so turnover of teams will be limited. Even if one team is playing poorly, they will still be allowed to compete in the more prestigious competitions. Teams that don’t make the cut will likely be passed up by sponsors and have to fight to get their names out. Shopify Rebellion, formerly known as Luminosity Gaming, complained on Twitter that the whole process was “a popularity contest for a woefully small number of team slots” after being informed that they were not selected to be partners.

https://twitter.com/ShopifyRebels/status/1548085974290141185?s=20&t=QT2JN-iFPFkKCJJuaC0jAA

Shopify Rebellion is committed to staying in the competition, but many other teams are not. Over the past month, many teams have been applying for partnership status with bated breath, eager to see where Riot would draw the lines. As it turns out, Riot set the bar high. DarkZero, New York Fury and Complexity are all VALORANT teams with smaller fan bases that have made the decision to disband completely in light of their rejection.

During a stream, long-time Sentinels player Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan let loose. He explained that the sudden culling of teams left his team struggling to find teams to scrim. “Scrims are a wasteland… We’re here at bootcamp, who the f*** are we supposed to play?” He went on to give his unfiltered opinion about the decision. “Riot is just killing the whole scene… I felt that Valorant was booming. It was all hype and people got invested in players. Then, all of a sudden, everyone was dropped.”

There are some benefits to VALORANT’s new scene, but it’s important not to forget what made it originally so special. Grassroots teams and budding players vying to make it big built VALORANT as an esport. Hopefully, they won’t be left behind entirely.

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