Riot Cuts VCT Partner Slots to 32 as Cloud9 and DRX Lose Their Seats

Riot Games has begun telling organizations whether they will be VALORANT Champions Tour partners for 2027 and 2028. The cut reduces each of the four regions from 10 partner teams to eight, and Cloud9 and KIWOOM DRX are among the established organizations left out of the guaranteed-revenue tier.

Riot has not published the list. Sheep Esports reported that teams began receiving decisions on Oct. 19 and is tracking partners from sources and team announcements. As of Monday afternoon, Sheep named eight partners each in the Americas, EMEA and China, and seven in Pacific. Outside China, many of those names rest on Sheep's sources rather than team announcements.

Several organizations confirmed they were not selected. Cloud9, ENVY, FlyQuest, LYON and M80 in the Americas, Barça eSports and GIANTX in EMEA, and KIWOOM DRX and Nongshim RedForce in Pacific all said so, according to a tracker kept by The Esports Radar. Sheep also reported that FURIA, Shopify Rebellion, NAVI, FunPlus Phoenix, Nova Esports, Titan Esports Club and Wolves Esports were left out.

The format is changing as well. Riot said on April 8 that VCT will move to a tournament model in 2027 with a two-year partnership cycle. Partners receive a guaranteed annual base payment, a performance bonus, an in-game team capsule and direct entry into Kickoff, the season opener. Riot's October schedule announcement said "advancement is about performance," and open teams can reach the Cups, Masters and Champions through open qualifiers.

Riot shared more than $105 million with VCT partner teams in 2025, according to year-end figures reported by Inven Global. About $86 million of that came from sales of esports digital items. Riot has not disclosed the 2027 base payment. THESPIKE reported in April that annual amounts for partners in North America, Latin America and Brazil would range from $600,000 to $5 million, but Riot has not confirmed those figures.

Riot said in June that qualification payments would be $100,000 for Kickoff or a Cup, $200,000 for Masters and $400,000 for Champions. Team capsule revenue depends on partner status, and Riot has not said how much of the 2025 digital-goods revenue came from team capsules.

Responses from the left-out organizations vary. Cloud9 said it "remains committed to VCT and the VALORANT ecosystem" and is holding open tryouts for the open qualifiers. KIWOOM DRX wrote that its commitment to the scene would not change. ENVY CEO Mike Rufail said the decision does not necessarily mean the organization is leaving competitive VALORANT. Global Esports said it will shut down its competitive operations to focus on GE Studios, according to the tracker. FlyQuest, GIANTX and M80 have not said whether they will compete on the open circuit.

Riot has removed partners before, including Movistar KOI in 2025 and TALON two months later. This is the first time it has cut partner numbers in every region at once.

Still unknown are the size of the base payment, how much 2025 digital-goods revenue came from team capsules, which organization will take the last Pacific partner slot, and how many dropped organizations will field a team in the November qualifiers.