In an update on the Valorant esports blog, Riot announced the new slot allocation for the APAC Last Chance Qualifier, with China's slots being reallocated to Korea and Japan — including a new Japanese team following the withdrawal of ZETA DIVISION ZETA DIVISION Japan Rank #2 Dep Yuma Hashimoto SugarZ3ro Shota Watanabe CLZ Hikaru Mizutani SyouTa Shota Aoki Xdll Yuto Mizomori .
Although an official reason was not provided for the removal of China from the qualifier — with the post referencing "logistical issues" — it is likely related to recent political pressure on Tencent, Riot's parent company and Chinese publishing partner, by the Chinese government.
While the approval of Valorant by the Chinese government has long been anticipated, with Valorant promotional accounts becoming active on Chinese social media in the past few weeks, the government's recent pressure on its large gaming publishers, including the slowing of game approvals, has seemingly stunted Valorant's previously-imminent release in the region.
In turn, China's two slots have been reallocated to Korea and Japan, with one team replacing ZETA DIVISION in the event. In a post on their website, ZETA cite previous results in Stage 2 and Stage 3 as the primary factors of their withdrawal, with the organization choosing to instead focus on the Valorant 2022 season.
The APAC LCQ slot distribution is now:
- Southeast Asia - 3
- Japan - 3
- Korea - 3
- South Asia - 1
Assuming no further alterations to the lineup, the APAC LCQ will field:
- Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #3 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov
- FULL SENSE FULL SENSE Asia-Pacific Rank #6 JohnOlsen Chanawin Nakchain Leviathan Thanyathon Nakmee aLerT Wattanachok Yingnakorn Potter Sutthichai Promsrikaew Sushiboys Panyawat Subsiriroj
- BOOM Esports BOOM Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #1 dos9 Zhumagali Dastan Famouz Fikri Zaki Hamdani Shiro Hildegard Arnaldo NcSlasher Sheldon Andersen Chandra BerserX Rizkie Adla Kusuma
- NUTURN NUTURN Inactive
- F4Q F4Q Inactive Hermes Ahn Byeong-wook (안병욱) Estrella Park Gun (박건) fiveK Yoo Sung-min (유성민) GOLD Geum Chang-wan (금창완)
- DAMWON Gaming DAMWON Gaming Inactive Lakia Kim Jong-min (김종민) allow Park Sang-wook (박상욱) exy Park Geun-cheol (박근철) Estrella Park Gun (박건) Esperanza Jeong Jin-cheol (정진철)
- REJECT REJECT Japan Rank #18 muto BNN take BRIAN IceBear
- NORTHEPTION NORTHEPTION Japan Rank #20
- FENNEL FENNEL Japan Rank #1 GON Kento Hara Aace Souta Itou Hals neth Yusuke Matsuda MrTenzouEz
- Global Esports Global Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #38 patrickWHO Mark Musni UdoTan Go Kyung-won (고경원) Kr1stal Savva Fedorov kellyS Kelly Sedillo Papi Federico Evangelista