After several successful series in North America, Riot Games is expanding its VCT Game Changers program to EMEA, consisting of VALORANT tournaments for women and marginalized groups.
These tournaments will consist of players competing from Europe, Turkey, CIS, Middle East and North Africa. They will start at the end of September.
Three tournaments have been announced over a two-month period from the end of the month:
EMEA Game Changers One: September 27 – October 3.
EMEA Game Changers Two: October 25 – 31.
EMEA Game Changers Three: 15 – 21 November.
At least three players on a team's roster must reside in one of the EMEA countries. Players must also be at least Platinum One rated and 16 years old.
EMEA Game Changers One and Two will each be open qualifier events that can feature up to 64 teams from all women competing. Game Changers Two will be a special “All-in” tournament where mixed teams can compete as long as there are at least three women on the roster. Both of these events have a prize pool of €20.000, while the third and final EMEA Game Changers event will award €50.000.
The Game Changers Series was created with the idea of providing an environment where women can compete in esports that is more encouraging and often free from harassment and negativity towards female players. The first two North American series saw some great matches.