VALORANT Premier

Context

Competitive play in VALORANT meant one-off tournaments that <1% of players engaged with. Most players wanted structured competition but didn’t know where to find it or how to enter.

Approach

I led product on Premier, an always-on competitive mode with season structure, division tiers, team rosters, and weekly match nights. Key product decisions:

• Built around teams, not solo queue. The social layer is the retention engine.
• Structured seasons with divisions and promotion. Clear progression people could point to.
• Playoff weekends as the climax. Real stakes, real matches, real brackets.

Outcome

Premier launched globally in 2023. Hundreds of thousands of teams signed up across regions. Competitive engagement moved from a niche tournament circuit to a season-long format available to every player. It’s still running today.