VALORANT: Leo Faria states that “audience” is the main solution for VCB sustainability

The Global Head of VALUING, Leo Faria, participated this Monday afternoon (4) in Flow Games, MD3. Riot’s FPS director spoke about the international and Brazilian scenario and also answered questions from the community.

The criticism towards the director is not new after a year with a lot of dissatisfaction from regional organizations and the community. It is worth mentioning that with the shorter calendar, organizations in Brazil such as: The Union, Liberty, ODDIK, Vivo Key Stars, left the sport.

Leo Faria demonstrates that Brazilian Challengers need an audience

“What we need is for the League to be sustainable, the Brazilian Challengers league needs to stand on its own. Winning the VCB has to have prestige. No audience. This is the point, it is necessary to give people a reason to watch and that is why with all the calendar changes, we put them separately so as not to have one on top of the other (Challengers and Americas), the Ascension happens in the middle and we need to give space for Challengers leagues to happen for people to watch.”

No audience. This is the point, you need to give people a reason to watch and that’s why all the calendar changes.

Community says the League is left “aside”

During the podcast, Schaeppi, host of MD3, opens questions for Leo Faria to answer. Furthermore, in one of the questions, a spectator says that he has the feeling that the leagues are abandoned.

“I think the feeling that the league is abandoned is not what really happens. I think all these changes, places in the Masters and Champions won’t happen, but we need the Challengers to be enough. ‘I couldn’t develop, but I’m Brazilian champion.”

I think that all these changes, places in the Masters and Champions will not happen.

Leo Faria claims that Riot’s VALORANT system does not work

“At Riot there is no ego, we created a system, we believe that it works and if it doesn’t work we will change it. What I see most on social media is people saying ‘you want to kill Tier 2’, there’s no reason to want to kill Tier 2, my goal is to make esports grow.”

What I see most on social media is people saying ‘you want to kill Tier 2’, there is no reason to want to kill Tier 2.

“We created a connection that is Ascension and what we hear from organizations is that maybe this is not enough and I understand that for several reasons. Firstly, because the opportunity is limited to once a year, secondly because teams from North America train with teams from there (NA)”.

Leo Faria reiterates the development of Tier 2

Still during the program, the general director mentioned the exclusive interview carried out with the More Esports, where Leo Faria stated that Tier 2 sought development and not stability, clarifying that Riot does not want players to settle in Tier 2, but seek to be in the International Leagues.

In fact, I need to clarify that when I did the interview with Raquel during Champions I said that the objective of Tier 2 was not stability and people went crazy. I need to clarify that what I meant by ‘stability’ is that we don’t want players who are on Challengers to stay there forever. If you’ve been at Challengers for more years, we want you to make room for new talent.

I need to clarify that what I meant by ‘stability’ is that we don’t want players who are on Challengers to stay there forever.

How to make a regional league sustainable?

“We want the league to be sustainable. The way to make the league sustainable? Have an audience. We established half an hour ago that for sport to be successful, it needs to have an audience. What we are doing for next year is making several changes so that the regional leagues have more audiences. What hurt everyone this year, including us, is that the main problem is that the league ended too soon.”

What hurt everyone this year, including us, is that the main problem is that the league ended too soon

“We have a philosophy of announcing the next competition before the current championship ends. And we didn’t do that in the Challengers. And everyone was left wondering “what now?” It was a big mistake. And the teams left and there was an idea that the scenario was dead. The scene is not dead.”

For Leo Faria, 2024 will be a year with teams and players

“I speak with great confidence, in 2024 we will have teams and players. When a vacuum is created, there is always someone new to fill that space. We are making several important changes for the league to have an audience. We are changing the calendar, which will last the whole year, there will no longer be this gap of six months without a game.”

When a vacuum is created, there is always someone new to fill that space.

“Premier will be implemented, which will start promoting teams every two months to Challengers. Ascension will now take place after Champions. We are creating an affiliation system. For example, LOUD can affiliate with a team in Brazil and this will create many benefits. They can exchange players, we expect teams to share resources with tier 2. We are making changes so the league has an audience. If you have an audience, you have a business.”