VALORANT, the popular 5v5 FPS tactical hero shooter game, was officially launched worldwide on June 2, 2020 and was only available on PC. Fans could download the game from both the Riot Games and Epic Games clients. In the game, each player selects a certain character, known as an Agent, that has unique characteristics and abilities. Based on their abilities, these Agents are classified into four classes: Duelists, Controllers, Initiators and Sentinels.
Prior to the launch of VALORANT, Riot Games was known for its MOBA game: League of Legends. At the time, Counter-Strike was the de facto tactical competitive FPS game. There wasn’t a valid alternative to CS within PC esports. Seeing this opportunity after years of development, Riot Games launched its FPS game: VALORANT. It has now been over five years since VALORANT was released worldwide. Has the game had the desired impact everyone expected? Let’s take a look.
Prior to the official launch of VALORANT, the game was launched in a closed beta phase on April 7, 2020. Fans could receive a code to download the game by registering for the beta or on Twitch streams of VALORANT partner streamers. The VALORANT closed beta took place from April 7 to May 28, 2020.
Image via VALORANT/Riot Games
Following the announcement, the game’s hype was unprecedented. Due to seeing the scale and grandeur of how Riot Games made League of Legends one of the most played games in the world, many fans were excited for the growth of VALORANT. It felt like the game was designed with the esports ecosystem in mind.
Following its release, VALORANT had 11 Agents to choose from. These included agents from the four Agent classes: Duelist, Sentinel, Controller, and Intiator. Each agent had two normal abilities, one signature ability, and one ultimate ability. Based on the overall strength of the ultimate ability, there was a certain number of ultimate orbs that players needed to receive to activate the ability. For example, Phoenix’s ultimate, Run It Back, required the player to have 6 points to activate it. The game initially offered 17 different weapons players could purchase before each round. These included various weapons like snipers, SMGs, assault rifles, and shotguns, similar to how the buy phase works in Counter-Strike.
At launch, VALORANT had four maps: Ascent, Split, Bind, and Haven. Haven was the only map with three plant sites, while the remaining three had two plant sites. Each map had a different layout from the other. Split had ropes that allowed players to go from one point of the map to another. Bind, on the other hand, featured teleporters that allowed players to rotate between the ends.
Early reviews of the game were quite positive. Many in the gaming community appreciated the flexibility the game offers players in their play style. Based on the desired style of play, some agents were a better fit. Fans were not happy with the game looking a bit outdated, but they did appreciate its art style.
Following the launch of VALORANT, the game had quite a good start in the world of streaming. Back in 2020, the game set a major Twitch record. According to Twitch, the game broke the “single-day hours watched record in a single game category” with 34 million hours watched. Meanwhile, the game reached a concurrent viewership of 1.7 million. This was previously achieved during the 2019 League of Legends World Championship grand finals.
Following the launch of the game in 2020, agents like Reyna, Killjoy, and Skye were released. During 2021, four new Agents were added to the game: Yoru, Astra, Kay/0 & Chamber. During this year, we saw the inaugural season of the VALORANT Champions Tour. This was the true start of VALORANT esports. VALORANT Champions 2021 was won by Ascend after defeating Gambit Esports 3-2.
In 2022, we saw new agents like Neon, Fade and Harbor released in the game. This year, the game took a more global approach with new servers being hosted in multiple countries. Loud Esports became the Champions of VALORANT Champions 2022, held in Istanbul.
In 2023, we saw the launch of the VALORANT Partnership League. Three regional leagues around the world: VCT Pacific, America, and EMEA, were announced. Each regional league consisted of 10 teams from that given region of the world. During the first official VCT tournament of 2023, we saw FNATIC lift the VCT Lock//In trophy in Brazil. FNATIC continued this run of form and won VALORANT Masters Tokyo later that year. The grand finals of VALORANT Champions 2023 were between Evil Geniuses and Paper Rex. In this incredible Grand Final, Evil Geniuses won to become the VALORANT World Champions.
As of the writing of this article, VALORANT has 28 unique agents. There are 12 standard maps, including five for the Team Deathmatch game mode. The latest agent to be released in the game is Sentinel Veto. The mobile version of VALORANT has been released in China. Following the game’s launch, a report stated that it has around 50 million monthly active users across both VALORANT Mobile and the VALORANT PC version in China.
The impact VALORANT has had on the world of online video games has been quite significant. After Fortnite, it has become the next game that has shot up to the mainstream. Various creators and professional players within the community have gone on to have multiple collaborations with various brands. Players like Tenz, Kangkang & Boaster have become household names within the esports community.
VALORANT has become for many people in gaming cafes the go-to game to play with friends. As it’s a first-person shooter, the basics are similar to those of other FPS games, such as Call of Duty and Counter-Strike. Another point to note is that the game is internationally recognized. In countries like India, it has become one of the most played PC games in the country. With VALORANT Mobile around the corner, we have already seen a steady rise in interest for the game worldwide.
During VALORANT Masters Bangkok, the arena was almost sold out for every single day of the tournament. The game has also actively tried to bridge the gap between female gamers and the esports ecosystem through its Game Changers circuit. According to Tracker.gg, the number of daily active users of VALORANT is close to 3.8 million. A game like Counter-Strike averages around 950,000 daily active players. With VALORANT having completed 5 years, it does feel like the game will truly stand the test of time in the upcoming years.
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