Tuesday, the 20th of August, a day with little significance in the VALORANT calendar as it falls in the middle of Champions, was not the day Riot chose to announce their 2025 calendar and LAN event locations. However, Riot Indonesia, eager to take the initiative, decided to drop the announcement video on their Instagram account regardless. Although the video has been deleted, thanks to French journalist
Coco_VLR, it is still available on public Twitter.
The main information of the video is that Riot Games will once again visit three continents in 2025 with 3 new locations : Thailand, Canada and France. However, that is not the only important detail that was shared, Leo Faria has indeed declared that the season will take place over a longer period - which could mean more matches - and will have a different format as a 12th team is joining the main leagues.
Notably, the weird Kick//Off format will be replaced by a double-elimination bracket, and then, the two stages will cease to be interconnected making each stage its own tournament, another change that could lead to more matches. Leo Faria also mentioned new skins and a celebration for VALORANT's 5-year anniversary.
According to sources, this announcement is taking many teams by surprise, as they were not aware of such changes. However, it is still a leak and is awaiting confirmation from Riot Games.
