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VCT 2027 Partner Cuts: Nongshim, DRX, Cloud9 and Global Esports Out. Full Timeline

Riot cut VCT partners from 10 to 8 per region. On 18–19 Oct 2026 Nongshim, DRX, Cloud9 and Global Esports learned they're out. Dated timeline, both sides, money at stake.

A Axortex ·

TL;DR: Riot has cut VALORANT Champions Tour partner slots from 10 to 8 per region for a two-year 2027–28 cycle, 40 orgs down to 32. Teams learned their fate on 18–19 October 2026 (local dates), right after Champions Shanghai. Out: Nongshim RedForce, Masters Santiago champions; KIWOOM DRX; Cloud9; and Global Esports, which is shutting its esports operation entirely. Shopify Rebellion, ENVY, FURIA, Movistar KOI and others weren't selected either. Riot calls it the price of an open, tournament-first circuit. Critics say it punished results and rewarded brands.

Last updated: 19 October 2026, 21:30 KST. Partner lists in EMEA and Pacific still had open slots at the time of writing.

What actually changed

The 10→8 number isn't new. Sheep Esports reported it from sources on 17 June 2026, and Riot's own explainer "No Guaranteed Paths: Inside the New VCT 2027" spells out the logic. What's new this week is the names: the two-year contracts that decide who keeps guaranteed money.

Under the 2027 format:

  • Kickoff in Americas, EMEA and Pacific has 12 teams: 8 partners + 4 from Open Qualifiers.
  • Cups replace Stages. Partners get direct entry to Kickoff only. After that they have to keep earning Cup spots, and poor finishes drop them into Open Playoffs.
  • VCT CN keeps its visitor model (8 partners + 2 visitors + 2 open qualifiers). Pacific adds a Last Chance Qualifier for South Asia and Oceania.
  • Open Qualifiers start in November 2026. Free agency opens 3 November, per Cloud9's statement.

Dated timeline

Date (2026) Event Source
April Riot announces the move to an open, "everything is a tournament" ecosystem for 2027 Sheep Esports (Jun report)
17 Jun Sheep Esports: partner count will drop from 10 to 8 per region, 32 total, two-year cycle. Riot paid nearly $86M to its 40 partners in 2025 Sheep Esports
2 Aug Leaker @RocketBullets claims Cloud9 will quit VALORANT after 2026. CEO Jack Etienne replies: "You've got a bad source on this one. Cloud9 is committed to Valorant." esportnow.gg, VLR.gg
Mid-Oct Champions Shanghai ends with LOUD beating Team Vitality 3–1. The old partnership agreement expires with it Hotspawn
18 Oct (Americas local) Sentinels, LOUD, NRG, LEVIATÁN, KRÜ confirmed as partners. Cloud9, Shopify Rebellion Black, M80, FlyQuest announce they were not selected VLR.gg
19 Oct, ~07:20 KST Sheep Esports opens a live tracker of in/out orgs for all four regions Sheep Esports
19 Oct, 10:55 KST ENVY's Mike Rufail: ENVY "will not be a VCT partner team in 2027" but will still field a team X (@hastr0)
19 Oct, ~12:08 KST Nongshim RedForce CEO Evans Oh: NS is out of the partnership, will compete via Open Qualifiers in 2027 X (VALO2ASIA), VLR.gg
19 Oct Global Esports confirms it was not selected, shuts down esports operations and releases its roster. KIWOOM DRX, DetonatioN FocusMe, BOOM Esports also confirm they're out. RRQ and ZETA DIVISION confirm they're in VLR.gg
19 Oct Also reported or confirmed out: Movistar KOI, Barça eSports, GIANTX (EMEA); S8UL (Pacific); FURIA, LYON (Americas); FunPlus Phoenix, Wolves, Nova, Titan, Dragon Ranger Gaming (China) Sheep Esports, Esports Radar, X
3 Nov Free agency opens. Cloud9 says it will update its plans after this date Esports Radar

Who's in, who's out (as of 19 Oct)

Grouped bar chart: each of the four VCT regions drops from 10 partner slots in the previous cycle to 8 for 2027–28; orgs publicly reported not selected as of 19 October: Americas 7, EMEA 3, Pacific 6, China 5
Region Confirmed or reported partners Notable orgs not selected
Americas (8/8) Sentinels, G2, NRG, 100 Thieves, KRÜ, LEVIATÁN, LOUD, MIBR Cloud9, Shopify Rebellion, ENVY, FURIA, LYON, FlyQuest, M80
EMEA Fnatic, Team Heretics, BBL, FUT, Team Liquid, Team Vitality (others TBA) Movistar KOI, Barça eSports, GIANTX
Pacific RRQ, ZETA DIVISION, Paper Rex, T1, Full Sense, Crazy Raccoon (some still rumoured; others TBA) Nongshim RedForce, KIWOOM DRX, Global Esports, DetonatioN FocusMe, BOOM Esports, S8UL
China (8/8) EDward Gaming, JD Gaming, TYLOO, Xi Lai Gaming, Weibo Gaming, All Gamers, Bilibili Gaming, Trace Esports FunPlus Phoenix, Wolves, Nova, Titan, Dragon Ranger Gaming

The "not selected" column counts orgs that applied and missed, not only former partners. Shopify Rebellion and M80, for example, came from Challengers. Lists combine official org announcements with Sheep Esports' sourced reporting, and they will move.

The money at stake

Item Amount Who gets it
Riot payouts to partners, 2025 ~$86M across 40 orgs (≈$2.15M average, our arithmetic) Partners
Qualify for Kickoff or a Cup $100,000 Open (non-partner) teams
Qualify for Masters $200,000 Open teams
Qualify for Champions $400,000 Open teams
Qualify for Game Changers Championship +$100,000 Non-partner teams
Seasonal prize pool $6M+ Everyone

Partners keep a base stipend, in-game team capsule revenue and skins. Open teams only get paid if they qualify. That gap is the whole fight.

Riot's side

  • Open slots need room. In Riot's words, eight partners "gives us enough room to bring at least four open teams into every major event, while still keeping meaningful financial support."
  • Partnership is no longer a free pass. Partners skip Kickoff qualifiers only. After that, "teams must keep earning their place."
  • A safety net for non-partners. Fixed qualification payments ($100K–$400K) and roster-continuity rules: keep 3 of 5 players and you keep your points.
  • Regional spread. VCT is now split into 14 territories (e.g. North America, LATAM, Brazil; Europe, Türkiye, MENA), so Riot is picking flagbearers per territory, not just the best rosters.

The critics' side

  • Results didn't decide it. Nongshim RedForce won Masters Santiago and made the Champions Shanghai playoffs, and still has no partner slot. Global Esports had just had its breakout season. The top VLR reply to the Pacific news was "no nongshim is crazy."
  • Legacy didn't either. DRX is one of VCT Pacific's founding faces. Fans read the Korean picks as Riot choosing bigger brands over the teams that actually won in 2026.
  • The open path is a cost. $100K for qualifying to a Cup doesn't cover a tier-one VALORANT salary bill. ENVY, Cloud9, NS and DRX say they'll stay, but without the stipend.
  • Jobs. Global Esports' exit puts a full Champions-level roster into free agency weeks before it opens. X posts say the org is moving into AI (GE Studios). That comes from social posts, not a formal statement we could find.

A counter-argument from inside the community: Riot vets the whole org (finances, stability, sponsor reach, territory representation), not just the roster. If results alone decided it, "more than half of the partnered teams would be Koreans," as one VLR commenter put it.

What to watch next

  1. Remaining EMEA and Pacific slots, still TBA as of 19 Oct. Speculation in the Korean scene centres on Gen.G and T1.
  2. 3 November free agency: where NS, DRX and Global Esports players land, and whether Cloud9 rebuilds from its open tryouts.
  3. November Open Qualifiers: the first real test of whether a dropped org can buy its way back through results.
  4. Riot's selection criteria: Riot hasn't published how it scored applicants, and that's the question every dropped org is asking.

Team statements and leaks reported here are attributed to their sources. None of this is a legal assessment of any contract.

Sources

#valorant#vct-2027#riot-games#nongshim-redforce#drx#cloud9#global-esports#esports-controversy
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