Early November has brought fresh developments for two competitive shooters in China. The professional bracket of the VALORANT China National Championship Season 7 is set to kick off on November 13, with competing teams vying for advancement to higher-tier tournaments. Meanwhile, Overwatch China has launched a dedicated in-game environment governance campaign, focusing on cracking down on boosting, cheating and other disruptive match behavior.
Per the recently unveiled tournament schedule, the S7 professional bracket will officially begin on November 13, and the race for six top qualifying spots will be the key highlight of this stage. For teams aiming to break into the professional circuit, the National Championship serves not only as a platform to demonstrate their strength, but also as a qualifying pathway to the 2027 VCT CN Kickoff Event.
On November 1, the 2026 VCT CN Promotion Tournament wrapped up. After two stages of knockout play, DRG and NOVA emerged victorious, earning status as temporary partner teams for the 2027 VCT CN circuit. With this result, the new season lineup is partially confirmed: eight official partner teams plus two promoted squads from the promotion tournament.
That said, the full participant list for the 2027 Kickoff Event is not yet finalized. Under the currently announced framework, the remaining two qualification spots will be decided at the National Championship in December, lending extra suspense to the upcoming S7 professional bracket. For teams that have yet to reach the top-tier league, every match from this point forward carries high stakes.
VALORANT’s competitive ecosystem has been refined continuously in recent years. From the National Championship to the top professional league, teams across different tiers now have more opportunities to compete against one another, and securing a spot on a higher-level stage has become a core focus for many participating rosters.
Beyond tournament updates, another competitive shooter — Overwatch — also released a new announcement on November 3.
The Overwatch China operations team rolled out a six-point in-game environment cleanup campaign, targeting boosting, match-throwing, win-trading, smurfing and cheating as core violations. The initiative will also strengthen monitoring of professional players and streamers, who will face equivalent penalties if violations are verified. The updated penalty schedule officially took effect at 00:00 on November 4.
These issues are nothing new to players who regularly play ranked matches. Boosting and smurfing — the practice of high-skill players competing on low-rank accounts — are particularly likely to throw match balance off. Intentionally underperforming teammates, meanwhile, can directly damage the gameplay experience for everyone else in the lobby.
In fact, Overwatch China has announced penalty batches for violating accounts multiple times before. This campaign goes beyond temporary account bans: officials have stated that enforcement will be ongoing, with regular public updates on results. How effective the measures prove to be will depend on whether match quality sees tangible improvement after implementation.
A new round of competition is approaching for the VALORANT National Championship, and stricter penalty rules are now in place for Overwatch. For fans of competitive shooters, there is more to look forward to than just tournament results. For many players, the bigger question is whether everyday ranked matches will feel fairer and more enjoyable to play.
*Data aggregation is sourced from Gghubs.