Katowice was going to host the first VALORANT LAN?

Edited on June 25th, 2020 at 1:40 PM CEST

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we are limited in the social activities and events we can attend. One can only imagine what Riot Games had in plan for VALORANT’s launch, in addition to the studio’s internationally recognized events, considering their impressive feats with League of Legends. VALORANT Esports Strategy Lead, Kasra Jafroodi, already provided THESPIKE.GG with an exclusive statement on Riot Games’ future competitive plans. This week, he was featured on Don’t Peek Entertainment’s VALORANTING podcast, and made a few interesting statements.

One of the most prominent cities when it comes to hosting first-person LAN esports events is Katowice, Poland. In fact, Jafroodi was there during the IEM Katowice 2020 tournament, which cancelled its attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The studio is studying the possibility of hosting the tactical shooter’s first significant LAN event, but with the restrictions in place, it is definitely going to be a difficult task. All we know for now is that Katowice might be one of the strong candidates to host what is sure to be an exciting spectacle.

Kasra Jafroodi explained why they were considering Europe as the ground to kick off their tactical shooter’s LAN events. The reason goes back to how places like Katowice ooze with cultural and esports history, with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s IEM Katowice 2020 the most recent example. Over the years, the city was able to cement itself as the go-to place for first-person shooter competition hub, with the number of people visiting IEM between 2013 and 2018 increased from 50 thousand to over 170 thousand. However, there are other places in Europe with a similar significant connection to esports, including the likes of Stockholm in Sweden, known for the internationally recognized Dreamhack event.

We heard about Vietnam holding VALORANT’s first LAN tournament in Hanoi back in late June. Although it didn’t allow any attendance inside the arena and had strict health restrictions for the players’ safety, it gave us a sample of what VALORANT LAN tournaments will look like in the future.

Would you attend a VALORANT LAN event? In which country and city do you want to see the first VALORANT major LAN tournament held? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below!