Madrid will once again be the capital of esports. It has just been announced by Riot Games, on the eve of the World Championship finals being held in Los Angeles. VALORANT Mastersthe international tournament of the California-based developer’s tactical first-person shooter, changes continent after this year’s success in Tokyo, to land in Europe, specifically in the Spanish capital.. We will have to wait until the spring of 2024 to witness this exciting world competition.
One of the things we were looking forward to doing this year was to start the season with an event that pits the regions against each other, and sets the tone and expectations for next year. So, starting in 2024, we will begin the season with a two-week tournament in each International League, which will qualify a total of 8 teams for the first Masters of the year, both competitions in a double-elimination format. And speaking of Masters, I am very pleased to announce that the 2024 Masters 1 will be held in Madrid! We have an incredibly passionate community in Spain, and we are counting the minutes to see it again and witness together the unique energy of the Spanish public.
Leo Faria, Global Head for VALORANT Esports
I am incredibly happy and proud of this news that responds to the expectations of one of the most passionate fans in the world. Bringing one of the top international competitions to Madrid for the first time, such as VALORANT Masters, represents another step in the history being created together with the community of players in Spain who follow the competition day after day.
Edgar Medina, Riot Games Country Manager for Spain, Italy and Portugal
The international competitive structure of Riot Games’ shooter foresees a series of local, regional and global stages within its calendar. At the pinnacle of this competitive ecosystem sits VALORANT Masters as one of the largest international championships in the video game. Two VALORANT Masters will be held during 2024: in Madrid and Shanghai. During the first tournament, 8 of the best teams from different parts of the world will compete for victory in this great event where fans will be able to experience competition at its highest level.
This is not the first time that Riot Games chooses Madrid as the venue for one of its most relevant global competitions. The Palacio de Vistalegre hosted the final of the spring split of the most important European competition of Riot Games’ MOBA in 2015, the LCS EU, a tournament that returned to this venue in 2018, with the final of the summer split and to break records not only of attendance, but also acoustic, with a fan whose screams reached 110 Dbthe equivalent of an airplane at take-off.
In 2019, it was the League of Legends World Championship that made a stop in our country, when the quarterfinals and semifinals of Worlds were based in the capital of Spain, managing to hang in minutes the “full” sign in Vistalegre.
Madrid has not been the only city to host international events, as Riot Games selected Tenerife to host the European LCS in 2014 and later, Barcelona to host the League of Legends All Stars in 2016.
In addition to the success of past events, Spain enjoys enviable health in terms of passion for esports, with such well-established local leagues as the LVP (Liga de Videojuegos Profesional) Superliga and VALORANT Challenger League: Rising. As recent studies by consultancy PWC attest, Spain ranks in the top 3 in the EU in terms of consumption of paid esports content.
Madrid annually hosts numerous events related to video games with a huge following that is surpassed each edition such as. Gamergy with almost 70,000 attendees.
The VALORANT Masters finals will feature 8 teams that have previously qualified and come from the different VALORANT regional leagues: EMEA, Americas, Pacific and, also, the recently announced VALORANT China International League. In the last edition in Tokyo, FNATIC won after defeating Evil Geniuses 3-0 in a thrilling duel watched by more than one million viewers.
There are currently three Spanish teams that could qualify for VALORANT’s top competition: Giants, Heretics y KOI.
In terms of audiences, more than one million viewers around the world closely followed VALORANT Masters held in Tokyo last June. This number gives an idea of the good moment that VALORANT is going through and that already places it as one of the referents of e-sports at the moment. The event was broadcast on more than 200 channels simultaneously and could be followed in 25 different languages around the world.