Daniel Ringland shares some insights on everything VALORANT Esports in EMEA.
Thank you so much for joining us, Daniel.
For all our readers who are not aware, could you just give us a quick introduction about yourself?
So my name is Daniel Ringland and I’m the Head of Valorant Esports here in EMEA.
And so what is your day like as the head of VALORANT Esports in EMEA?
I’m lucky to be able to lead a team of really, really talented people.
And so what have some of the challenges been like since you joined VALORANT Esports?
I’ve been with Riot for about nine and a half years now.
Then I moved into this role in December 2020.
Obviously, we landed on what you have seen this year.
So at times, it was hard to be running a sport and planning and building a sport simultaneously.
That was definitely one of the challenges.
But at the same time, it was at times quite hard to live up to those expectations.
Touching on the fans real quick.
Even withFnaticbeing an EU team, they still had plenty of supporters.
How does that make you guys at VALORANT Esports feel knowing this is how big it has become?
Yeah, this is why we do it.
Just the smiles on everybody’s faces, that’s what we’re doing here.
So yeah, makes us really happy.
Yeah, I think we’re very happy with the first year.
We operated as EMEA last year in the 2022 season.
We had some really special moments as well.
Some of the pictures and videos on Twitter are absolutely mind blowing.
That sort of thing hadn’t happened before so that was really good to see.
The more you layer history on top of each other, it kind of makes every game more exciting.
Yeah, I agree.
Who will actually pose a real problem?
It’s a good question and it’s a hard question and I can’t answer it really.
And not because I’m just going to dodge the question.
Team Liquid beat them in an upset.
And I think all the teams around the world have the capacity to do the same.
And that’s part of what makes it so exciting to tune in and watch every game.
So we’ll see.
There’s strong teams everywhere.
Can they go back-to-back-to-back?
Image credit: VALORANT Esports
They definitely have the potential to.
We’ve seen them put in some really strong performances, right?
Yeah with things like that, we’re always looking to tweak and evolve the ecosystem.
We listen to fans a lot and we’ve incorporated a lot of feedback.
What hasn’t worked?
What’s different?"
and go from there.
So that increases the EMEA teams odds at winning, which would definitely make me happy.
But yeah, we’ll see.
We’ll be announcing more details about 2024 throughout the rest of the year.
What can fans look forward to?
I think this is going to be the biggest Champions yet, that’s for sure.
I think it’s going to be the closest as well.
And I expect that that will lead to a much more exciting tournament.
I love the stage designs that you guys have come up with over the last year.
just want to point out the stage design is honestly superb.
Thanks for saying so and I would agree with you.
All right, this will be my last question.
And I would just like to know who do you personally support?
Oh okay, this question!
If we have a game that is five maps, I support a 3-2 scoreline.
I love an upset like everybody.
You just want to be kept at the edge of your seat, right?
