Here’s everything you need to know about organizing VALORANT community tournaments.
Tournament organizers are a critical part of the VALORANT ecosystem, from local LANs to online tournaments to larger grassroots events. We know organizing competitions takes time, effort, and resources, and we want to make the process easier for people who want to build experiences for the community.
As part of our broader evolution toward the next era of VCT in 2027, we’re updating these guidelines for the first time in a while with a simple goal: reduce friction for community organizers. We’ve streamlined the system, removed outdated restrictions, and created a more globally consistent framework for running VALORANT community competitions.
In most cases, community organizers do not need to wait for Riot approvals or navigate complicated licensing processes to run events. If you want to organize a VALORANT competition in good faith, these guidelines are designed to help you get started quickly and confidently. We ask that you give us a heads up by filling out this form (pw:riotevent), in general we’re trying to get a better understanding of where and when these events take place so in the future we can identify better ways of supporting them.
Some organizations, including major corporate brands and government entities, are not covered under the community competition license and will still need to work directly with Riot through our partnership process.
We’ll continue updating this page over time as VALORANT esports evolves. This will also serve as a permanent home for organizer resources, including asset kits, event tools, and reporting forms.
What’s New?
We’ve updated and streamlined our community competition guidelines to make organizing events easier and more globally consistent.
Here are the biggest changes:
- One unified global framework across all supported regions and languages
- Removed tiered licensing systems in favor of a single community competition license
- Removed hard caps on:
- Entry fees
- Sponsorship revenue
- Prize pools
- Spectator fees
- Removed restrictions on event duration
- Relaxed naming and branding guidelines
- Updated restricted sponsor categories
- Added a visibility form for events
Our goal is to reduce unnecessary restrictions while improving visibility into the ecosystem so we can better support, showcase, and promote community competitions around the world.
Table of Contents
- What kind of competitions can I organize?
- Can I charge entry fees or make sponsorship agreements for my tournament?
- Can I use VALORANT assets to promote my tournament?
- Where can I broadcast my tournament?
- Can Riot use my tournament?
- What should I avoid doing as a tournament organizer?
- Do I need to tell Riot about my tournament?
- What types of sponsors should I avoid?
- What does this page allow organizers to do in a formal license sense?
What kind of competitions can I organize?
You’re free to organize VALORANT competitions at nearly any scale, from local community events to large multi-day tournaments.
Online and offline formats are both allowed. Open and invitational formats are fine too. Build the event that makes sense for your community.
However, some organizations are not covered under these community competition guidelines, including:
- Government entities (at any level, including government agencies and state-owned organizations), other than events organized by schools, libraries, local or municipal government organizations, and after-school programs
- Professional VALORANT teams and players operating under separate agreements or programs
- Streaming, broadcast, or media platforms
- Corporate brands that are not established tournament organizers
- Events organized on behalf of or at the direction of any of the above entities, regardless of who is listed as the organizer
Sponsors may be identified as presenting or supporting partners of a community competition (e.g., “VALORANT Community Tournament Presented by Brand”), but sponsors may not be incorporated into the name of the VALORANT competition itself (e.g., “Brand VALORANT Tournament”).
If you fall into one of those categories, you’ll need to work directly with Riot on a separate license agreement. For new entities who this may apply to - submit your inquiries via the linked form.
Can I charge entry fees or make sponsorship agreements for my tournament?
Yes to both.
We know tournaments cost money to run, and we want organizers to have the flexibility to build sustainable events. There are no fixed caps on entry fees, sponsorship revenue, prize pools, or spectator ticketing under these guidelines.
We do ask organizers to act reasonably and provide fair value to players, fans, and partners participating in the event.
There are, however, some sponsor categories that are off-limits. You can find the full list below.
Can I use VALORANT assets to promote my tournament?
Yes, you can use VALORANT assets solely to promote and raise awareness of your community competition. Use of these assets should be limited to what is reasonably necessary to market the competition itself. VALORANT assets may not be used to promote, endorse, or commercialize any brand, product, or service, including those of event sponsors. Riot has final say on appropriate use of VALORANT assets in its sole discretion, and organizers must follow any direction Riot provides on their use, including any direction to stop using them. Riot reserves the right to apply additional restrictions on asset usage for events involving brand sponsors.
Please note that you cannot imply Riot Games or the VALORANT esports team is officially operating, endorsing, or sponsoring your event.
That means you may not:
- Use Riot Games logos in event marketing
- Use official VALORANT esports event branding like “Masters” or “Champions”
- Present your tournament as an official Riot competition
We may also require certain naming conventions or descriptors, such as identifying your event as a “community tournament” or “community competition.”
Where can I broadcast my tournament?
You’re free to stream your event online on the platform of your choice. You may also charge spectator fees or gate access to streams of your event.
However, you may not broadcast your tournament on linear television (traditional broadcast TV).
Can Riot use my tournament?
Yes.
We love showcasing cool things happening in the VALORANT community, and these guidelines allow us to feature community tournaments across Riot and partner platforms.
When we give you permission to operate a tournament under these guidelines, you also give Riot permission to use, share, adapt, and distribute tournament footage and related content for promotional purposes connected to VALORANT, Riot Games, or Riot esports.
More specifically: you agree that Riot may use, copy, modify, distribute, and create derivative works from your event content on a royalty-free, non-exclusive, irrevocable, transferable, sublicensable, worldwide basis, without compensation, approval, or attribution requirements.
What should I avoid doing as a tournament organizer?
We expect organizers to act in good faith and uphold the spirit of the VALORANT community.
That means:
- Don’t make misleading promises to players, teams, or partners
- Don’t mishandle prize money or sponsorship commitments
- Don’t engage in abusive, exclusionary, fraudulent, or harmful behavior
If you operate in good faith, you’re probably fine.
Organizers are solely responsible for ensuring their events comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and third-party obligations.
Riot reserves the right to intervene, revoke permissions, or shut down any event at our sole discretion if we believe it violates these guidelines, our values, or our policies.
Do I need to tell Riot about my tournament?
Yes.
Completing the form helps us maintain visibility into the community. In most cases, you do not need to wait for a Riot response before operating your event.
This system helps us:
- Maintain visibility into the competitive ecosystem
- Better support community organizers
- Identify bad actors
- Potentially promote or showcase standout events
We want to reduce the need for bespoke approvals while still maintaining enough ecosystem visibility to support the community responsibly.
What types of sponsors should I avoid making agreements with?
Here are the sponsor categories that are not allowed for VALORANT community competitions:
- Gambling, sportsbooks, and casinos
- Fantasy esports operators (including daily fantasy)
- Prescription drugs or non-over-the-counter drugs, including CBD products
- Firearms, ammunition, weapons, and related accessories
- Pornography or adult content platforms
- Tobacco products or paraphernalia
- Alcohol products or intoxicants regulated by law
- Counterfeit or illegal virtual item marketplaces
- Sellers violating Riot’s Terms of Service
- Cryptocurrencies, NFTs, or unregulated financial instruments
- Political campaigns or political action committees
- Charities tied to partisan political or religious advocacy, or charities lacking established reputability
- Any sponsor or promotional content that includes or promotes material that is unlawful, threatening, obscene, harassing, discriminatory, or otherwise could reasonably be seen as harmful to the goodwill of Riot, VALORANT, or the broader community
What does this page allow organizers to do, in a formal license sense?
On the condition that you follow all of the guidelines described herein (the “Guidelines”), our Legal Jibber Jabber, our Community Pact, and our Terms of Service, Riot Games, Inc. grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, non-transferable, revocable, limited license to organize and operate a VALORANT competition.
We may take action or otherwise shut down any competition at any time if we decide it violates or misinterprets these Guidelines, our Terms of Service, or any other Riot policies, promotes anything contrary to our values, or otherwise uses Riot intellectual property inappropriately.
