VALORANT was recently featured in the Esports World Cup (EWC) in 2025. This was a great development for Riot Games, the company behind VALORANT, as it signed a three-year contract with the Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF). Other than this, Riot has also included its games like League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics. In 2024, VALORANT did not appear due to some issues, but as fan demand increased along with the competitive scene, Riot had to make sure that VALORANT was added to EWC in 2025.
The Three-Year Deal Between Riot and EWC
Although announced earlier, the deal came into focus once again after VALORANT officially debuted in the EWC 2025 lineup. On February 10th 2025, Riot announced that it’s partnership with EWCF will continue until 2027 and according to that deal, the Esports World Cup will include events featuring VALORANT, League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics every year.
In this partnership, Riot and EWCF both said that :
- Cross-promotion during Riot’s other games, events, etc. will be there.
- There will be special content during VCT events.
- Branding and sponsor activations during the event will also be present.
The main goal of Riot Games is to create a global audience whilst devoloping esports for newer audiences in newer regions such as the Middle East.
Tournament Details: Teams, Format & Prize Pool
The VALORANT tournaments were held from July 8th to July 13th of 2025 in Boulevard, Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia. This tournament featured a total of 16 of the top teams from around the globe. These teams were selected for the tournament on the basis of their placenemt in VCT and previous competitive match results.
The tournament format consisted of:
- Group Stage
- Playoffs or Knockouts consisting of 8 teams
- Grand Final, Best of 5
This tournament offered a total prize pool of $1.25 million dollars. The team that will win will recieve the grand prize of $500k and 1000 EWC points.
Champions: Team Heretics Take the Title
Heretics won the first VALORANT Esports World Cup title. They got to the finals and defeated fnatic with a dcore of 13-2. The MVP of the match was a young turkish player named Mert “Wo0t” Alkan, who performed really well in this tournament.
More Than Just Games: EWC as a Festival
The 2025 EWC is much more than just a competition. It also had a lot of features for fans including:
- Over 2000 esports competitors, including all levels of play
- 25 tournaments across all types of games
- A record-breaking $70 million prize pool
Mixed Reactions from the Community
Despite the success it got, some fans and critics expressed their worries pointing out that Saudi Arabia was using this event for its own benifit in order to improve their efforts of public relations. Riot chose to kept quite in this situation and also adviced it’s players to follow the same to avoid any controversies. Riot told that their goal is to devolop eSports worldwise while also respecting local rules.
Conclusion: A New Chapter for Valorant Esports
The emergence of VALORANT at the EWS was really successful as it is a growing game with a growing fanbase. With 3 years of agreement between VALORANT and EWS, it has and will earn a spot among the largest esports competition in the world. It showed that VALORANT had came a long way, from Team Heretic winning the game to fans cheering on their favourite players. This tournament is yet another milestone in the esports regime and as usual, VALORANT will continue to grow.
