Riot Games continues its partnership with the online streaming platform Twitch as it pushes for the official release of Valorant. A launch tournament marks this milestone, with a US$200,000 [AU$300,526] prize pool in store.
From the onset, Riot Games team up with Twitch to introduce Valorant to the gaming community contributed to the great success of the game while in the closed beta phase. In fact, the online streaming platform recorded 1 million viewers on Valorant’s first day of closed beta key drop event.
Now that Riot heads on to the next phase, releasing the game on June 2, the Valorant makers continue its Twitch team up to introduce its first major tournament—Twitch Rival tournament.
There have been multiple Valorant eSports tourneys in the past, but all of which were hosted by third-party organizations like ESPN, T1 International, and 100 Thieves.
The Twitch Rivals tournament
The official name of the launch tourney is Twitch Rivals: Valorant Launch Showdown competition and the prize pool is a whopping $200,000.
No further competition mechanics have been relayed so far, but Forbes did not that the event will happen on the weekend following its release—which is a Tuesday.
The competing regions are North America, Latin Amera, Brazil, Europe, Japan, and Korea. All regions will have their simultaneous tournaments, which result in having six winners—one for each region.
To celebrate launch, we’re teaming with competitive FPS creators to hold a global tournament and crown 1 winning team from each region. Up for grabs is a $200,000 prize pool and the right to count themselves among the first global VALORANT champs. https://t.co/8KTOqeVsck
— VALORANT (@VALORANT) May 28, 2020
As to how the prize will be divided among the winners is yet to clarified by Riot Games or Twitch. The probability of having an inter-region finale might be unlikely considering the competition will happen online.
The lack of LAN will hinder that possibility. This was the problem that Riot is also facing with its other blockbuster eSports game, League of Legends. This led to the cancellation of its Mid-Season Invitational.
Nevertheless, the winners for each region will have the boasting rights to be called the first-ever global Valorant champs.
VALORANT Closed Beta was an opportunity for us to learn what worked, what didn't, and what you'd need from us to have the best experience playing VALORANT. With your help, here's what we accomplished in the last two months. Thanks to players around the world for joining in! pic.twitter.com/oUWmqcfLiY
— VALORANT (@VALORANT) May 28, 2020
The end of the most hyped closed beta yet
Riot Games may have just performed the most hyped closed beta yet with its Valorant. Tourneys happened before the tactical FPS video game even released.
ESPN did report that Valorant recorded almost 3 million players logging in daily—making it a major success.
🤔🤔🤔 pic.twitter.com/zzih86SXzz
— VALORANT (@VALORANTes) May 21, 2020
As of 9 a.m. PT on May 28 the closed beta queues will now be closed. Meanwhile, on the game’s June 2 release, an additional agent will be introduced, making it a total of 11 agents. Also, a new map will also be added, making it a total of four maps.
Featured image courtesy Valorant