After the World Championships in League of Legends, Valorant is also coming to Berlin with the Game Changers tournament. We take a look at why the format is so important.
Women can’t play games and belong in the kitchen. Comments like this are often heard in gaming or eSports. For a long time, men dominated the scene – female players had a hard time gaining a foothold. One reason for this is hostility based on gender or identity. Studies even show that women and men perform equally well when trained under the same conditions.
“But as soon as you tell the women’s group that they are worse than men, they automatically perform worse. The prejudice that women are less good prevents them from developing,” explains Tom Schumacher, a doctoral student in sports psychology at the German Sport University Cologne.
The Game Changers are aiming to finally put women in the spotlight of eSports. They want to create role models and inspire others to pursue a career in professional gaming. The tournament wants to fight prejudices – that is, the stereotypical assumptions that women can only play supporting roles or are less talented.
At the same time, this format offers a safe space in which the pros can develop and improve. Far away from hate and negative comments in a positive environment. The interest of high-profile eSports organizations is demonstrated by the participation of well-known teams such as G2 Esports, FlyQuest and Shopify Rebellion, known from titles such as League of Legends. This presence promotes the professionalism of the tournament, creating new jobs and opportunities in the industry.
Thrill of the finals
Participants praise the Game Changers system and Riot’s support. Michaela ‘Mimi’ Lintrup of G2 Gozen switched to Valorant from Counter-Strike (CS). She emphasizes: “In CS, the tournament system for women was marginalized. Riot is investing a lot more here – even the broadcast team is the same as for the VCT World Championships.” Alexis ‘Alexis’ Guarrasi of Shopify Rebellion is also convinced, but would like to see a larger arena: “Many want to see us live. More seats to make that possible would be nice.”
Despite the safe environment, negative comments would sometimes be made, according to ‘Mimi’. Mostly from people who didn’t know any better or who got upset when the team made mistakes in their eyes and didn’t achieve what they wanted.
European women more successful than men
In the first edition in 2022, G2 won the title, but this year they still managed to reach 3rd place and were thus far more successful than their male counterpart in the official top league, the Valorant Champions (VCT). China won the VCT finals. Europe only managed 7th-8th place at the time. Shopify Rebellion defended last year’s title in the Game Changers.
In 2024, the tournament went to the Americans again: after a double elimination round, they beat MIBR from Brazil 3-0 to defend their place at the top. ‘Florescent’ stood out in particular with an undisputedly strong performance on Neon. She delivered in every single round, often capturing the key moments in the game that were so important for the team, and proved once again that women have what it takes to be pros.
The future of Valorant eSports
The popularity of the tournament is undisputed: on Twitch, the videos reached up to 773,000 views in a few days – almost as many as for the play-ins of the League of Legends World Championship. The arena in Berlin was also packed to the rafters. This shows that women and non-binary players have long since established themselves as part of the professional culture in Valorant.
Riot’s long-term goal is to establish mixed teams in eSports. The Game Changers are just the beginning. This year, they have also launched another tournament series, the “Spotlight Series”. These tournaments are aimed squarely at mixed teams. In addition, the rules have been relaxed to make it easier for female players to participate in several tournaments. Shopify Rebellion could be taking part in the VCT next year if they want, making them the first all-female team in this tournament series.