- Primary Subject: Valorant
- Key Update: With the VCT 2026 season in its final stages, Riot is learning from the current roadshow events taking place in all regions.
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: September 2, 2026
- Quick Answer: Roadshow events are not a rehearsal, but rather a learning experience for Riot ahead of the VCT 2027 season.
The VCT 2026 season is in its final legs, with roadshow events taking place across all regions for the Stage 2 finals. Just last weekend, the VCT EMEA Stage 2 finals took place in Barcelona, Spain, as the circuit moved out of Riot Games' Berlin Studio for the first time for a non-international event.
At the event, I had the chance to interview Jon Tilbury, the VCT EMEA product lead at Riot, about several topics, including the upcoming VCT 2027 season. It's no secret that the league will go through a major format change next year, probably the biggest since its inception, so the subject was inevitable.
Here is what Jon had to say when I asked about VCT EMEA hosting a finals for the first time outside the studio in Berlin:
We felt like it was really important because for four years we've asked fans to come to us, and we are trying to create an experience for players/fans across the whole of EMEA, and we really feel like we should be going to them. So that's part of the vision for 2027 and beyond. But we wanted to do this now to show what 2027 can be like.
Diving a little deeper into the topic, I later on questioned if this event is like a "rehearsal" for the 2027 season, but Jon wouldn't call it like that. "Maybe I wouldn't necessarily say a rehearsal, but one of the goals for it is for us to learn more about what we can offer the community, to kind of build a muscle memory internally around how we make a VCT EMEA road trip... kind of to set an expectation with fans that these events will be something really special next year."
He then continued, "...we haven't done this before. We've been static in Berlin, and we want to show the scale of the event here, the fan fest, all the community and culture elements that we bring in. Those are things we want to deliver at the highest possible level..."
"It's not necessarily a rehearsal, but we are using this as a learning experience to refine and make sure we are in the best possible place for next year and continue to raise that bar."
READ MORE: Exclusive: Riot Addresses VCT Stage Controversy Over NRG's Ethan Call At Last Year's Champions Paris
Karmine Corp secured a 3-1 win at the Stage 2 Finals over Team Liquid. The next roadshow event on the calendar is the VCT Americas Stage 2 Finals, which will take place at the Suhai Music Hall in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from September 4-6.
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