For Esports gamers and people watching the Valorant Champions Tour, heads up! The Valorant Champions Tour Pacific league is gearing up for its fourth season with major format overhauls and new venue announcements that signal the region’s growing dominance in competitive Valorant.
TGXP³ recently attended the VCT Pacific 2026 Kickoff Press Conference, held on January 19 via Zoom.
In a press conference featuring Jake Sinh, head of Valorant Esports in Asia Pacific, and David Hong, VCT Pacific Product Lead, Riot Games revealed that Pacific is riding high after its most successful year yet. The region claimed back-to-back Masters trophies in 2025, namely the T1 taking Bangkok and PRX winning Toronto. It marked the first time any league has achieved consecutive global victories. DRX and PRX rounded out the year with third and fourth-place finishes at Champions Paris, cementing Pacific’s reputation as arguably the strongest competitive region globally.
The numbers back up the hype. VCT Pacific peaked at 430,000 concurrent viewers last season, averaging 160,000 throughout, representing 11% and 27% growth, respectively, compared to 2023. Masters Bangkok shattered records with 5.2 million peak viewers, making it the most-watched Masters event in VCT history. Digital goods sales exploded too, with teams sharing over $86 million from a total prize pool exceeding $100 million, marking 34% year-over-year growth.
For 2026, VCT Pacific is introducing a triple-elimination bracket for Kickoff, giving teams three opportunities before elimination. This adjustment addresses community concerns about restricted playtime and the significant gaps between tournaments. Beyond increasing the number of matches and enhancing teams’ ability to make comebacks, the revised format is likely to foster sustained competitive engagement and skill development throughout the season. By enabling teams to compete more often, the format supports higher match readiness and may promote a more consistent level of play across the league.
Perhaps the most game-changing addition is the Skirmish side selection system, replacing the traditional coin toss. Teams will now compete in a best-of-five 1v1 gunfight with abilities disabled to determine map selection advantage, adding a merit-based, aim-focused spectacle before every series.
The Challengers Path to Champions integration gives top Challenger teams their first shot at the Pacific crown and Champions qualification through Stage 2 play-ins. Partner teams that miss playoffs get a second chance, while non-partner squads can prove themselves on the biggest stage.
Pacific is also going big on live events with two roadshows: Stage 1 Finals in Ho Chi Minh City this May (Vietnam’s first official Tier 1 VCT event) and Stage 2 Finals in Busan this September. With Vietnamese now a top-five language for VCT viewership and Korea’s fandom doubling year-over-year, these locations reflect where the passion burns brightest.
The talent pipeline continues delivering, too. Seventeen Challengers players and five amateur rookies joined VCT Pacific last year, headlined by PRX’s Patman, who went from Philippines Challengers to winning Masters Toronto while snagging both Rookie of the Year and Initiator of the Year honors.
As Pacific enters what organizers call a foundational year before VCT’s next chapter in 2027, the region isn’t just competing—it’s setting the standard.
For more updates, visit Valorant Esports.