Valorant Champions is an esports tournament organized by Riot Games for the video game Valorant. Now in its third year, the tournament was the pinnacle event of the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) for the game’s 2023 season.
This year’s tournament hosted in Los, Angeles, California, started on August 6 and ended on Saturday 26 August 2023, almost a month earlier compared to last year’s edition. Sixteen teams qualified for the 2023 Valorant Champions tournament through:
- Accruing the most points in the regular season leagues
- Top three teams at the 2023 Masters Tokyo
- The regional Last Chance Qualifiers
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This year’s tournament pulled a lot of surprises, just like we saw at EVO 2023. Last year’s winner from Brazil, LOUD, fell to Evil Geniuses (made up of Boostio, Ethan, Jawgemo, C0M, and Demon1) in the lower bracket final. Interestingly, Evil Geniuses went ahead to lift this year’s trophy to become the first North American team to lift the Valorant world championship trophy.
Although it was a fierce battle in the finals, Evil Geniuses edged over Paper Rex by a score of 3-1. The Kia Forum—the venue for the final three days—was packed with fans who had turned up to witness the encounter. Snugging in the sea of fans was Elon Musk, the X (former Twitter) and Space X boss.
Elon Musk unwelcomed at the 2023 Valorant Champions
According to reports, Musk attended the final of the 2023 Valorant Champions with his sons. As soon as the camera panned towards him, the crowd erupted in boos.
“Where is that from?” one of the commentators asked, probably rattled by the sudden outburst. “That can’t be from in here, surely”.
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Inasmuch as the camera only captured Musk for a few seconds, it was enough to change the atmosphere in the Kia Forum. The loud boos died down as soon as the camera feed cut back to the game and was replaced by intermittent “Bring back Twitter” chants.
Although almost 4 million fans tuned in to watch the event on Twitch, Musk’s presence quickly became the talking point rather than the tactics of the finalists at the 2023 Valorant Champions. The 36-second clip shared by @JakeSucky had over 13.7 million views at the time of writing this post.
The problem is not about Musk being unpopular among the gaming community. We believe it’s about people not being comfortable with his personality and often rash decisions. During a show in San Francisco in December 2022, ace comedian, Dave Chappelle, invited Musk on stage and there was a mix of cheers and boos which made the billionaire’s stay on stage awkward.
Musk’s Twitter rebranding is yet to sink in
In July Musk announced that he was rebranding Twitter to X. It is about a month since that decision was made but a lot of media outlets around the globe still refer to the platform as Twitter—or always make sure they include “former Twitter” in bracket to avoid ambiguity.
After the announcement, the platform was temporarily blocked in Indonesia under the anti-porn and gambling laws. Business Insider also revealed that out of the top 25 advertisers in the United States, only one has switched to the platform’s new X symbol.
The 2023 Valorant Champions will share mouthwatering prize pool
Last year, LOUD, the winner of the Valorant Champions, got $300,000 from the prize pool of $1 million while the runner-up, OpTic Gaming, received $150,000. The stakes were over 100 percent higher at the 2023 Valorant Champions. Riot Games increased the prize pool to $2.25 million.
This year’s winner, Evil Geniuses, received $1 million while the runner-up got $400,000. LOUD settled for the third position and got a share of $250,000 from the pool—which is close to what they received last year as winners.
It is also interesting to know that VCT partner teams receive 50% of “net proceeds from the Champions 2023 Skin Collection”. As of 23 August, that collection has raised over $20 million for qualified Champions teams. If you missed the show, you can recap the action in the video below.
Are you one of those stuck with Twitter or have you moved on to calling the platform X? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.
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