VCT change could cost teams $400K as Riot shifts Valorant focus – Report

According to a Sheep Esports report, Riot Games is planning to cut part of its incentive program for VCT international league teams for content creation and instead focus on in-game cosmetic sales.

VCT teams have multiple revenue streams from Riot Games as the developer’s chosen representatives across its four international leagues.

Esports organizations receive funds through a fixed stipend, an incentive structure, and a share of profits from in-game sales of their team-specific cosmetic bundles and the Valorant Champions bundle.

One part of the incentive structure was linked to the team’s viewership of their VCT content and co-streams. This led to teams signing content creators to co-stream their games and hiring editors and designers to work on videos and social media verticals.

Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games

Valorant Esports embraced co-streamers from the start and has seen high-viewership numbers thanks to its success.

According to Sheep Esports, the maximum payout each team could get for reaching Riot Games’ content goals was $400,000. Riot said in a comment to Sheep Esports that it changes its payment structure for VCT every year, and the focus for 2025 is on in-game item sales.

“Since those are performing incredibly well thanks to the generosity of our fans. All in all, we expect significant growth in the total amount of money paid to teams by Riot, continuing the growth trajectory from the past three years,” a Riot spokesperson told the publication.

Some VCT teams are reportedly unhappy with the short notice ahead of the change and promise from Riot that things will shake out evenly next year even without the $400,000 in content incentives.

Riot Games has not given out sale numbers for the VCT cosmetic bundles globally or per team. However, the developer has posted the top-selling VCT team bundles over the season. Sentinels, Paper Rex, Fnatic, and EDward Gaming top the list across the four regions.

How this will impact the co-streamers and behind-the-scenes content workers for these organizations remains to be seen. Esports organizations are just coming out of a layoff period that saw dozens of workers lose their jobs as outside investment slowed, and profits remain elusive.