Valorant is a massive title in esports gaming. But how did Valorant grow to become this big? Check out this article to find out!
In 2021 Riot Games released a new title in First Person gaming called Valorant. It is a round-based first-person shooter set in a fictional world where some people have special abilities and are known as “Radiants.” These Radiants fight each other on maps from different locations. Depending on your team, the objective is to plant or defuse the bomb or “Spike.”
It was a new take in the FPS gaming genre, which many players didn’t expect since the gaming trend was shifting towards Battle Royale games like Fortnite and Apex Legends. Releasing an FPS game during this shift in trend was a bold and risky move by Riot games, but it worked, and it worked well! Valorant now has over 13 million monthly active players, and around 700,000 to 900,000 people play the game on the daily.
This growth has also led Valorant to become a competitive esports title in 2022. There have been many major tournaments in Valorant esports, with a total prize pool of over millions of dollars.
With all these statistics, it is safe to say that Valorant is now one of the major titles in gaming and esports. But how did it get here? How did Valorant progress to become the esports title it is today? Let’s go over the journey of Valorant and see how it became so popular.
What Is the History of Valorant Esports?
Talking about Valorant esports’ success, it has a direct link to Valorant’s biggest competitor, CSGO. And more importantly, its developer, Valve. As everyone knows, Counter-Strike has been the biggest and the most popular game in the FPS genre for over a decade. Hell, a large percentage of Valorant players right now are former CSGO players who decided to switch over.
CSGO also dominated the FPS esports market. But Valve decided it was best not to interfere with the tournament operators like ESL and Faceit. Instead, they allowed them to conduct tournaments and even provided them with funding. But other than that, they didn’t have much to do with tournaments.
Meanwhile, Riot Games actively took part in designing the layout and process for its tournaments. They organized a tournament that proved that Riot Games knows what they’re doing. During all this, Valve was still ignoring its fan base’s demands for a better esports experience. All this, combined with the fact that the player base was ready to try something new after playing the same game for a long time, helped Valorant esports achieve success.
Why did CS:GO pros move to Valorant?
European players dominated Counter-Strike for a long time since the game has a long history in the region for esports. There was a large competition for players that wanted to break through and do big in the game. This is why many players decided to switch over to it when they saw the potential in Valorant as an esports title.
CSGO prodigies like Tenz and Wardell switched over to Valorant early on, which is how they were able to make a big name for themselves. Established names like ShahZaM and mixwell also made their shift to Valorant in the early stages because it was developed by Riot Games.
Major organizations were also willing to invest heavily in Valorant from the start. Organizations like TSM, G2, 100 Thieves, and T1 are all names that are enjoying the benefits of investing in Valorant when they did. Through the players’ growing Twitch streams, merch deals, and sponsors, the organizations profited immensely, and so did the players themselves.
This had a snowball effect which led to more players from CSGO and Valorant switching over. All this increased the popularity of Valorant in the NA region and diminished the influence and popularity of CSGO.
Did Valorant Benefit From Quarantine?
A major factor that contributed immensely to the popularity of Valorant was the time of its release. Valorant was released in the middle of 2020 when Covid-19 was spreading out, and lockdowns were imposed worldwide.
Everyone was quarantined in their homes and did not have much to do. Overtaken by boredom, players were willing to try out new games they otherwise wouldn’t have. This combination of timing and coincidence also helped Valorant to pick up the pace and grow as a AAA esports title.
What Game Is Valorant Similar To?
Valorant was the perfect safe space for players from other popular games to come and try. It was the perfect merge of these communities.
Valorant has characters with abilities which was loved by Overwatch fans. Counter-Strike players enjoyed the core mechanics of Valorant, which were very similar to those of CSGO.
Hacking was a major issue in CSGO and PUBG. Some players would encounter a hacker in almost every other game. It had gotten so bad that the games had become unplayable for some people. This is why they were tempted to switch over to Valoran since Valorant was similar to both these games and had an amazing Anti-Cheat system.
What is the VCT Valorant?
In November 2020, Riot Games announced the first Valorant Champions Tour (VCT). It was a global competitive esports tournament series for Valorant run by Riot Games. The series runs multiple events throughout each season, and the top teams from those events get to participate in Valorant Champions, which is the top-level event in the tour. It was announced in 2022, and the first season took place in 2021.
Valorant Champions Tour is divided into three tiers; Challengers, Masters, and Champions, going from low to high.
The lowest tier is Challengers, which is split into six regions. The teams that advance past Challenger would go onto the Masters tier. In Masters, the teams are not divided by region anymore. The top 16 teams in Masters would move onto Champions, the final and the biggest tournament in Valorant Champions Tour.
Riot Games made several changes to the format of VCT for the 2022 season. While the overall structure remained the same, the number of stages in Challengers and Masters tiers was reduced from three to two. The 2022 Challengers stage began on February 11, 2022, and the Champions Tournament will take place from September 1st to 18th in Istanbul, Turkey.
What is the format of Valorant Champions Tour?
The format of VCT in 2022 consists of three tiers; Challengers, Masters, and Champions, same as 2021. Challengers and Masters are split across two stages; Stage One and Stage Two.
The tour starts with the regional Stage One Challenger events in which the teams qualify through open qualifiers. The top teams from Challengers then move onto Masters Stage One, where teams aren’t divided by regions. The top performing teams in stage one and teams from another open qualifier progress onto Challengers Stage Two. And like Stage One, the top teams from Challengers progress onto Masters Stage two.
Teams earn circuit points by performing in Challengers and Masters events. After the end of Masters Stage Two, the 11 teams with the most points advance to Champions, the VCT’s biggest event. The winning team of Masters Stage Two also qualifies automatically for Champions. The remaining four spots are filled through a “Last Chance Qualifier” event.
