VALORANT Confirmed for Esports World Cup 2025

VALORANT is officially joining the Esports World Cup (EWC) for the 2025 iteration of the event. Despite missing out on the opportunity to take part of the Esports World Cup in its inaugural edition in 2024, VALORANT will be making its long-awaited debut on the grand stage in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2025.

The announcement marks a major addition to the VALORANT esports scene, as the game continues to move forward in the world of competitive gaming.

What is the Esports World Cup?

The Esports World Cup (EWC) is one of the largest multi-title esports competitions in the world, bringing together top teams and players from a variety of games to compete on a global stage. The tournament spans multiple game genres, including first-person shooters, MOBAs, fighting games, and sports titles, unifying esports and competitive gaming while placing millions of dollars in prize money at stake.

At its inaugural edition in 2024, the Esports World Cup held tournaments for 22 different game titles, making it one of the largest, and most unique, esports events to ever take place. Now, the addition of VALORANT to the lineup will help the EWC take matters one step further, as the event is set to grow to 25 titles in 2025.

Beyond individual competitions, the EWC also features a unique club-based system, where organizations earn points for their performance across different titles, competing for the title of Esports World Cup Champion.

With its massive scale and high production value, the EWC has quickly become a defining event in the esports calendar, drawing top-tier talent and fans from around the world. Now, this applies to VALORANT too.

Why wasn't VALORANT in the Esports World Cup 2024?

VALORANT's absence from the lineup of titles that made up the first Esports World Cup in 2024 despite it being one of the most popular FPS games on the planet came as a surprise to many. After all, several other of Riot Games' own titles were included in the event, such as League of Legends or Teamfight Tactics. Ultimately, however, VALORANT was excluded from the EWC 2024, and the most likely reason is a simple one indeed: conflicting schedules

The VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) is as busy a professional circuit as they come. With its three regional seasons and three international tournaments a year, the VCT leaves little room for top-flight VALORANT teams to participate in other events. When it came to the Esports World Cup in 2024, it seems possible that that is exactly what happened.

With the VCT schedule already set for the year from early on, it seems there was no possible solution at the time but to exclude VALORANT from the inaugural Esports World Cup altogether.

This time around, however, it appears that the VCT and the EWC must have been able to come to an understanding when it came to scheduling to ensure that VALORANT does not miss out on such a large-scale event in 2025. In fact, discussions between all parties involved must have been going on for quite some time, judging by the hints dropped by Kirill "ANGE1" Karasiow during our latest interview with the player.

When is the VALORANT EWC 2025 tournament?

The Esports World Cup 2025 will run from July to August, getting through all tournaments for its 25 game titles across this two month period. While the exact schedule for VALORANT is yet to be announced, expect the game to take part in the EWC only after VCT 2025 - Masters Toronto 2025 wraps to a close on June 22.

As mentioned, however, the VCT schedule is already tightly packed as is, so it will be interesting to see how the Esports World Cup fits into the mix while creating as little disruption as possible.

For more updates on the Esports World Cup, as well as all other things VALORANT, stay tuned to THESPIKE.GG as we bring you all the latest news.