Riot's collaboration with Twitch to help send invitations to VALORANT's Closed Beta has resulted in record-breaking viewership numbers for the streaming platform. In an official press release sent out this week, Riot announced that VALORANT has broken Twitch's single-day hours watched record in a single game category.
VALORANT surpassed 1.7 million peak concurrent viewers and set a new Twitch record with 34 million hours watched. As part of the partnership, those interested in obtaining an invite into the Closed Beta had to link their Riot and Twitch accounts and watch specific VALORANT streams in hopes of getting a key drop.
Revealed last year, VALORANT is a competitive 5v5 character-based tactical shooter. It has been most closely compared to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive although there's some subtle inspiration from Overwatch as well, since characters do have unique abilities.
VALORANT is one of numerous new projects in the works over at Riot Games, who is most famous for their multiplayer online battle arena, League of Legends. It features "high-fidelity gunplay, a diverse arsenal of guns, agents with unique abilities, and competitively tuned maps for thousands of hours of play." In addition to fine-tuned and balanced gameplay, Riot — who is no stranger to eSports — has focused on optimizations, server infrastructure, and proprietary anti-cheat technology to ensure tight gameplay and competitive integrity.
“Our hearts, inboxes, and social media DMs are filled to the brim with all of the enthusiasm for the VALORANT Closed Beta. At this moment we are laser-focused on delivering a truly global experience for competitive tac-shooter fans, and we're already learning many lessons," said Anna Donlon, Executive Producer of VALORANT at Riot Games. “This is just the beginning of our journey with players, and as we roll out our server infrastructure in these tumultuous times, we're looking forward to inviting more VALORANT players from around the world into this digital community."
VALORANT doesn't have an exact release date but is expected to launch later this year. It is and will remain a free-to-play game.