Images: Canva, Riot Games
After last year's Pacific Ascension tournament was moved from Tokyo to Jakarta, this year's Pacific Stage 2 Finals will see a return to Japan.
VALORANT developer Riot Games has officially announced that the 2025 VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) Pacific Stage 2 Finals will take place in Tokyo, Japan. Scheduled for August 30-31, the event will mark the first time the VCT Pacific Finals will be hosted outside of South Korea.
Jake Sin, Head of VALORANT Esports Asia Pacific, shared the news during the VCT Pacific Kickoff Pre-Event Press Conference in Seoul.
“I'm super excited to announce that for the 1st time ever we're bringing VCT Pacific outside of Seoul this year with Stage 2 Finals in Tokyo, Japan, from August 30th to 31st,” Jake Sin said.
Sin also highlighted Japan’s enthusiastic community as a reason for choosing Tokyo as the host city. "Japan was such an obvious choice, considering the amount of love and passion we have seen from our community there,” Sin explained.
“As you know, we had Masters Tokyo in 2023, and we were just blown away by the amount of support and passion that the fans displayed, even without a Japanese team,” he added.
He noted how unique and heartfelt the support from the Japanese fans has been, expressing gratitude and sharing how it solidified their decision to bring another event to Japan as soon as possible.
Why VCT Ascension Pacific 2024 moved from Tokyo to Jakarta
During the announcement, Sin addressed the fact that the 2024 VCT Pacific Ascension event was initially planned for Tokyo but ultimately took place in Jakarta due to logistical challenges.
“Now the elephant in the room is that we didn't manage to bring Ascension to Tokyo like we planned last year,” he said, also emphasizing that he never gave up.
“I have to be frank, that Japan's not the easiest place to run an international esports event. Nor is it the cheapest,” he added.
This year, Riot is making it happen, despite the challenges ahead. “We really want to make it happen. So our teams are already hard at work planning for Stage 2 Finals, and we have already locked in a venue.”
“We'll share more details closer to the date. But I hope you're excited as I am about this news,” he said.
Tokyo is no stranger to hosting international VALORANT events. In 2023, the city hosted VALORANT Masters Tokyo, where FNATIC claimed victory.
The 2025 VCT Pacific season will kick off from 18 January to 9 February, with teams competing to secure spots at VALORANT Masters Bangkok. This event will be the only international tournament hosted in Asia this year before the action moves to Canada for VALORANT Masters Toronto, and concludes in Paris, France for VALORANT Champions.
Fans can look forward to more updates as Riot Games reveals additional details about the Stage 2 Finals and its venue in Tokyo. The event is expected to attract global attention, celebrating the passion of Japan’s vibrant VALORANT community.
