Grassroots Valorant esports is returning to Northern Europe with the 2023 Beacon Circuit, with a new tournament structure and LAN events.
Beacon Split 1 2023 will see teams competing for promotion to the Valorant Challengers Northern Europe: Polaris 2024, with two teams able to progress to that higher-tier tournament.
It will kick off at Epic.LAN event Epic38 on February 25th 2023 at Kettering Conference Centre in the UK, and conclude with the Circuit Finals from May 22nd to 26th.
Following on from last year, budding Valorant pros will be able to compete in a series of events and accrue circuit points, giving them a chance to qualify for the Polaris Regional League.
Tournaments will be categorised in a new way for 2023, with teams competing in Minors, LAN events and Majors, with each awarding up to 100, 500, and 1,000 circuit points respectively.
Teams will be able to compete in as many tournaments as they like within the time period, however, points earned from LAN-tier tournaments will not stack, and only the highest point finish across all Beacon Split 1 2023 LAN events will count towards the team’s total points.
The 2023 Split 1 Division 1 Circuit Finals will once again feature eight teams that accumulated the most points throughout the split, as well as the two lowest-placed teams from the previous Challengers Northern Europe: Polaris Split. The top two teams from the Division 1 Circuit Finals will then lock in their place for Polaris in 2024.
This year the Beacon circuit will once again operated by UK-based license holders Promod Esports, which launched back in 2020.
“Offering future star players a clear and defined pathway to professional play has always been a key goal for us, and we are proud that we can continue to provide that with Beacon throughout the coming year.”
Rob Black, Promod Esports
Rob Black, Founder and CEO of Promod Esports, said, “We’re thrilled to be supporting grassroots Valorant players through the Beacon Circuit in 2023.
“Offering future star players a clear and defined pathway to professional play has always been a key goal for us, and we are proud that we can continue to provide that with Beacon throughout the coming year.”
Beacon points will also now be awarded to Amazon University Esports Valorant university tournament teams.
In 2022, the Beacon Circuit saw just under 40,000 unique viewers consume nearly 24,000 hours of livestream content. The 2022 Beacon Split 1 Finals Weekend also made waves on social media in 2022 with 1.3m impressions, 250,000 engagements and 361,000 video views.
Valorant Beacon Tournament Partners
- Majors:
- Leagues.gg
- The Goose House
- FEL
- LANs:
- Epic38
- The Gathering
- Minors:
- Gamer.no Norway
- RÍSÍ Iceland
- Leagues.gg Sweden
- Leagues.gg Denmark
- England, Wales, Northern Ireland & Ireland Minor (TBC)
- Esports Scotland
- FEL Finland
Organisers say more events may be added to the circuit, so keep an eye out for new partners and tournament editions as we move closer to the start of the split.
If you are interested in hosting an official Beacon event this split, please apply via the official Riot community tournament licensing website.
Broadcasted events throughout the split can be found on the local tournament organisers’ Twitch channels, so keep an eye out for announcements on the Valorant Northern Europe Twitter page so you can follow and tune in to all the action.
There’s also information on the Valorant Regional Circuit: Beacon Split 1 2023 on the Beacon Valorant website and Beacon Discord.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
