Riot announces Top 5 VCT EMEA capsule sales ranking

Riot Games has announced the Top 5 most sold capsules for the VALORANT Champions Tour in the EMEA region. Fnatic once more dominated the rankings, with French fans showing up for their teams.

The Top 5

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Fnatic is once more on top of the EMEA region. The Masters Tokyo and last year's LOCK//IN São Paulo champion has expectedly amassed a huge amount of support from its fanbase and is topping the charts in sales.

The French esports scene is known for its passionate support of its teams, which is evident in large numbers at offline events and comment sections around the scene. It's no surprise that the French organisations Gentle Mates and Karmine Corp also appeared in the rankings, though the former beating out the latter for second place may be surprising for some.

Expectedly, the Spanish team MadLions KOI also made it into the Top 5. Like the French teams, KOI is one of the teams with a strong influencer presence within their organisation, with Ibai "Ibai" Llanos bringing many eyes not just onto his organisation but VALORANT esports at large.

Rounding out the Top 5, the Ukrainian organisation Natus Vincere (Na'Vi) also showed up, highlighting the growing interest in VALORANT within the CIS region.

Capsule success as a pivotal revenue stream for esports

While no specific numbers were disclosed, the shared revenue is expected to be substantial and an important part of each organisation's income stream for the year.

Riot Games has worked to align incentive structures of players, organisations, and their own across its esports ecosystem. It sees digital item sales with team branding as a vehicle to facilitate more robust revenue streams outside of sponsorships or broadcasting right deals while also calibrating every stakeholder's efforts towards one shared goal.

In mid-March, Riot Games announced a change in its franchise systems across VALORANT's sister game League of Legends, bringing it closer to the VALORANT model while also highlighting the importance of digital sales going forward. 

Stage 1 of VCT EMEA is set to start on April 3 with Karmine Corp vs GIANTX at 5 pm CEST / 4 pm BST. Fan-favourite Fnatic will kick off their stage the day after against Team Heretics at 8 pm CEST / 7 pm BST.