Riot Games unveils dual initiatives for the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) 2026 season, combining international live events with new in-game supporter items.
The publisher will take the playoffs of its four premier VCT international leagues to global venues in 2026, hosting events in São Paulo, Chengdu, Madrid, and Busan. This initiative, announced on January 6, 2026, moves the Stage 2 playoffs away from their regular studio bases, aiming to bring high-stakes matches directly to international fan communities.
The announcement was made via Riot Games’ official channels by product managers Riley Yurk and Bill Pan. They revealed that the VCT Stage 2 playoffs for each international league will be hosted in a different city. Accordingly, the VCT Americas playoffs will be held in São Paulo, Brazil; VCT China will visit Chengdu, China; VCT EMEA will take place in Madrid, Spain; and VCT Pacific will be hosted in Busan, South Korea. The regular season matches and group stages for these leagues will continue at their standard studio locations.
Riot Games has concurrently revealed the 2026 VCT Team Capsules. These in-game items represent a continued strategy to monetise and support the professional ecosystem, building on the $100M the company shared with partnered teams in 2025.
The capsules, scheduled for release in-game on January 13th, are designed to allow players to support specific teams financially. Each capsule will contain an updated Classic skin with new visual effects, an achievements tracker for team event wins, a new animated player card, an original team spray, and an original team gun buddy. Pricing is set at 2,320 VP, though players who own a specific team’s 2024 or 2025 capsules can purchase the new version at a discounted rate of 1,650 VP.
This expansion of live events follows the already-confirmed global tournament schedule for 2026, which includes VALORANT Masters events in Santiago, Chile, and London, United Kingdom, culminating in the Champions tournament in Shanghai, China. The decision to decentralise playoff hosting continues Riot’s established pattern of taking its esports events to a wider array of international venues.
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