It’s unimaginable to not examine Valorant and Counter-Strike relating to esports and, whereas each video games are immensely profitable and nice for their very own causes, CS2 has an enormous leg up on Valorant in a single key space: The way in which their professional scenes are structured.
Valorant’s professional scene has a franchised construction with Ascension slots that, as soon as per 12 months, permit a workforce from tier 2 to maneuver up and preserve their spot for as much as 2 years. 10 franchised groups with 2 Ascension slots whole a 12 workforce league.
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On the floor, making a franchise league looks as if a good way to create a sustainable esport. And it’s! For the groups which might be in it, anyhow.
Franchising ensures that you just’ll see the identical groups at most esports occasions, that these groups can construct a fandom. A workforce like Sentinels will all the time have followers no matter how they carry out, so having a workforce like them within the circuit is a big boon for viewership. This construction is an extremely secure choice.
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However G2’s workforce Ascended from Challengers (type of), bringing collectively gamers who couldn’t discover a spot they match inside current VCT groups which have come collectively to make a world-class roster. It’s an important story, and a roster that needs to be caught in tier 2.
Makes you marvel what number of groups like which might be caught in T2 that by no means get the prospect to shine, what number of groups down there which have gamers who might be higher than those which might be at the moment in VCT.
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A franchise construction helps (and hurts) Valorant esports
There’s nothing higher than a great underdog run. A workforce that’s anticipated to lose, that has a lot much less funding or much less skilled gamers that the competitors, is difficult to not root for.
Whereas this could occur in a franchised construction if a workforce that traditionally performs poorly spends massive or scouts a younger prodigy to hold them, groups must be prepared to spend to remain aggressive. However what actually lights a fireplace below groups and encourages them to do higher? Relegation.
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That is the place Counter-Strike 2’s scene handily beats Valorant’s. Nobody is secure. It doesn’t matter for those who’re Staff Vitality scorching off an IEM Katowice win, if they’ve a collection of dangerous performances, the org’s dynasty means nothing. Groups normally must earn their spots on stage with efficiency, not status. Astralis successful a number of Majors up to now hasn’t saved them from repeatedly dropping out of qualification now.
Once more, that is a part of why Riot’s franchise construction is so good for the groups inside it. Even when an org picked to signify Valorant has an off break up, they’ll signal a “finances” roster and preserve their spot. Riot does reserve the fitting in addition groups from the VCT as they see match, however it’s uncommon.
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Making an attempt to construct a CS2 workforce is way riskier, one thing that’s made clear by an enormous esports org like Cloud9 exiting the esport after failing to construct an important roster.
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That is partially as a result of Counter-Strike’s participant salaries are closely inflated, but additionally as a result of it’s onerous to stay round when you have a workforce that may’t carry out. Even an org like C9 doesn’t have deep sufficient pockets to take losses like that.
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Valorant’s construction is certainly extra sustainable and advantages groups that may get into it, however it loses the true spirit of esports: Placing collectively a workforce of nice gamers and proving you’re the most effective.
And there’s a rising workforce in Counter-Strike with a narrative that’d be virtually unimaginable to drag off in Valorant’s present ecosystem.
Valorant misses out on the most effective factor about esports
The way in which that Ascension is structured at the moment, solely two groups can Ascend to VCT leagues directly. Presently, G2 is secure for 2025 and sure 2026. Their placement at this Masters occasion virtually ensures them for Champions on the finish of 2025.
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Let’s say, hypothetically, that 2GAME finally ends up additionally making it to Champions on the finish of the 12 months. Even when these two groups are by far the most effective rosters within the area, one in all them shall be relegated. And, if both workforce had been to get relegated within the case that they’re prime 2, it’d be a catastrophe.
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Both the relegated workforce’s present roster goes by way of the Challenger’s league understanding they’re doubtless going to win, or the roster will get torn aside and purchased out by franchised VCT groups, hurting fandom for gamers and the org as an entire.
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What’s extra, there solely being one Ascension slot per 12 months incentivizes orgs who aren’t already within the VCT to spend massive and get the most effective gamers they’ll, with each one in all them risking an enormous monetary loss in the event that they don’t qualify.
M80 is a good instance of an org that’s been on the cusp however has simply narrowly missed qualification, spending massive on a roster and faceplanting within the finals. Twice.
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Not solely is that this a disgrace for M80 who clearly needs to achieve the scene and is prepared to fork over the capital to do it, but additionally groups that must compete in opposition to them. It might be argued that there are a number of tier 2 groups which might be higher than present VCT rosters with how aggressive that single slot is.
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This usually retains newer groups from having the prospect to play stage video games in opposition to the most effective groups on the planet. What number of G2s are there on the market that simply can’t match into that one Ascension slot? What number of nice groups have crumbled due to that franchise barrier, particularly when G2 itself is made up of VCT veterans?
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There’s one Counter-Strike 2 workforce at the moment that embodies simply how vital getting expertise on stage and giving rookies time to chop their tooth can imply: The MongolZ.
Regardless of being a considerably lackluster org for more often than not they’ve existed, this workforce has turned up the warmth over the previous 2 years, to the purpose the place they’ve three youngsters which might be beating the gods of Counter-Strike, gamers value hundreds of thousands. Only a bunch of younger Mongolian gamers placing all the things on the road to flip the script on the longest standing dynasties in CS.
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This workforce is so profitable that they’ve been acknowledged as nationwide athletes by their authorities, with Mongolia backing the gamers and supporting them to try to develop the nation’s presence in esports.
There’s completely no probability a franchised workforce picks up a roster like what The MongolZ have. Any such storyline is subsequent to unimaginable in Valorant, and underdog runs like this are the best possible factor that may occur in established esports.
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What wouldn’t it be like if each org needed to strive? If everybody needed to earn their spot, put all the things on the road or threat being irrelevant? It’s onerous to think about that, if each workforce needed to strive as onerous as G2 to construct a successful roster, the esport wouldn’t be all the higher for it.
That isn’t to say that Valorant is a foul esport, removed from it. The ultimate between G2 and T1 at VCT Masters Bangkok 2025 was a spectacle, one thing I’m positive even Counter-Strike followers may admire. Each groups had been lifeless even when it comes to ability within the backwards and forwards remaining.
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It’d be nice to see a stage of competitors like that in Valorant on a regular basis reasonably than a considerably lackluster common season that brings fleeting curiosity whereas followers watch for the few massive internationals the 12 months’s circuit brings.
At this level, there’s no probability that Valorant will ditch the franchise system. For the orgs that discover their place in it, it’s an important deal, and the orgs which have earned their approach in are unlikely to surrender the spots they’ve.
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Valorant could also be a more healthy esport than CS when it comes to sustainability for groups who’re already inside the tier 1 ecosystem, however the sport’s storylines are additionally a hell of lots much less enjoyable due to it.
