Opinion: Should Riot Games better supervise tournament formats?

Riot Games’ Ignition Series partnership program is a tremendous opportunity for the company to set the foundations for the VALORANT esports scene. However, more and more players are voicing their complaints about a number of tournaments following extremely tiring formats and putting VALORANT teams through many matches back-to-back. The most recent example is the WePlay! VALORANT Invitational, where some games went beyond an hour, namely need more DM vs PartyParrots or both of the qualifiers finishing at 4 AM CEST. In addition to that, Jérôme Coupez, the founder of Prodigy Agency, complained recently about his players going through three best-of-three and one best-of-five series during the same day in another European tournament, The Vitality European Open.

Unfortunately, the studio seems to not be interfering with the tournament organizer’s choice of format for their competitions. The fact players have to go through several best-of-three series in addition to a best-of-five puts them at a heavy disadvantage as the match fatigue continues to pile up.

Not only that, it heavily affects the quality of the tournament itself, while making it difficult for the average viewer to stay intrigued and stuck on the stream for the upcoming match. The tournament mentioned before, the WePlay! VALORANT Invitational qualifiers don't have a stream, but that makes it even worse as no one is gaining anything out of the compressed schedule outside of finishing the tournament in a few days. Damien “Hyp” Souville expressed his opinion on the topic during The Vitality European Open, where players had to stay awake till late at night to compete in the latter stages of the tournament, having already played several matches.

However, outside of the regular tournament guidelines Riot Games already set for their Ignition Series partners, there is nothing to advise organizers on not to overwhelm players with matches in a short span of time. The growth of the VALORANT esports scene can’t be done at the expense of the player’s health and well-being.

Tournaments where players have to go several series on the same day, or even those looking to conclude the entire group stage and playoffs across two days, takes a heavy toll on the competitors. This was even the cause of Take The Throne’s cancellation in late June because the invited teams were already competing in other tournaments.

Not only that, but it was also suspended due to other reasons as well, since it didn’t fit Riot Games’ policy for organizers to hold VALORANT events. It is understandable organizations want their rosters to play every chance they get, but this is a prime example of how compressed the players’ schedule these days are.

Do you think Riot Games have to set guidelines for tournament organizers to follow for their format? Should VALORANT competitive players’ well-being and mental health be highlighted more often with the number of competitions taking place recently? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section down below!