Should Riot really separate its NA and SA pro Valorant teams?

As discourse around SA and NA pro Valorant teams potentially having a meaningful gap in both opportunities and skill, would it be better for all of the teams, players, and fans from both regions if the two were formally separated?

Valorant is one of the few top competitive games that has a truly global presence. From Asia to the Americas, the game has passionate players worldwide who are willing and able to compete in tournaments for a chance to make it big. But as global as the game is, Valorant teams are largely kept separate by regional divides in a closed system developer and publisher Riot Games first introduced with League of Legends.

Teams in North America and South America are joined together in a broad Americas region, and fans have lately noticed a growing disparity between the region’s southern and northern teams. A viral report that was eventually proven false pushed the question of whether the two regions’ teams should be separated, sparking much discussion of the subject among fans. But how exactly would splitting up the VCT Americas league into two separate regions change things?

Should the VCT Americas league be split into two?

Splitting the VCT Americas league into two separate parts would almost certainly help rising teams from Latin America and Brazil level the playing field and find better opportunities for high-level international competition.

Typically having better funding, stronger infrastructure, and more training partners, North American teams have seemingly proven superior over time relative to their South American counterparts in the Americas league. Sentinels and G2 Esports have come to dominate a competition despite the presence of some of the biggest names in all of South American esports, including Made in Brazil and Furia. That dominance means teams like MIBR and Furia have fewer opportunities to qualify for international events and level up against international competition. Splitting the VCT Americas to give SA a dedicated league may offer the region’s teams more opportunities to grow.

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There’s also the matter of a joint “Americas” identity. Some fans argue that splitting the league could cause a rift between the regions and fracture its existing fan base, but that might not actually be so different from where things stand today. Many South American fans already couldn’t care less about the competing NA teams, focusing on the results of SA teams and taking less interest in the competition if and when they fall behind. There are some exceptions, as Sentinels is an example of a team that has proven broadly popular across regional lines, but even that popularity likely pales in comparison to the interest a team like MIBR could generate in Brazil, for example, if it was consistently competing on the world stage.

Importantly, splitting the VCT Americas league would also see Riot Games finally host the region’s VCT teams somewhere in the actual region. Allowing fans to see their favorite teams actually compete at home, and being able to conveniently travel to see those teams on a regular basis, could be a significant boon.

On the practical side, visa issues and travel difficulties have a times been a glaring problem for South American players having to base themselves in the VCT Americas home in Los Angeles. Cutting out this consistent difficulty would be a benefit to players and teams alike.

Riot may not want SA and NA Valorant teams separated

While reports to date of Riot Games splitting the SA and NA Valorant teams apart have proven false, structural changes for pro Valorant are confirmed for 2027.

In response to reports that Riot Games aimed to create a franchised league in South America for Valorant esports, global head of Valorant esports Leo Faria made a statement painting those reports as false. He did give fans looking for change some hope, however, by stating that “changes are coming in 2027” without giving any additional information beyond that vague promise.

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Riot’s other major esports title, League of Legends, has made structural changes by actually following the example of Valorant and creating a merged league for North American, Latin American, and Brazilian teams. The change hasn’t been well-received, and things have been constantly evolving as Riot look to make the best of the situation. But Riot’s stubbornly sticking to the new merged format speaks to it still wanting the VCT Americas to be kept whole.

Riot may also feel like there’s no need to split the league. While North American teams largely look to be in control of the region now, SA teams have won regional events in the past, and the region’s players and teams remain competitive with their NA counterparts even if they’re increasingly struggling to keep up in the standings.

A good middle ground may be for Riot Games to hold more VCT events in South American countries, giving players from the continent the opportunity to play closer to home more often and better serving fans in the area.

Regardless of whether Riot ultimately splits the VCT Americas league into two, the discourse highlights a deeper issue in comparing potential resource and infrastructure gaps that can exist between teams in different regions, and that can be highlighted when those teams are jammed together. The question now is whether Riot Games will do in 2027 to meaningfully grow pro Valorant in the Americas and to keep fans across South America feeling happy and engaged with the competitive opportunities that are being made available to their teams.