Valorant breaks viewership records on Twitch with beta key drops

Valorant is off to a very, very strong start.

April 7 saw the launch of the tactical shooter’s closed beta and fans looking for a beta key flooded Twitch streams in hopes of getting one. This saw Valorant shatter Twitch’s single-day viewership record within hours.

The first-person shooter is anticipated by fans of a number of major esports titles including League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Overwatch. Valorant set a record with 34 million hours watched, with peak viewership hitting over 1.7 million viewers. This record beats the previous record, also set by Valorant when gameplay was revealed on April 3, which totaled 12.2 million hours watched.

Riot’s new first-person shooter is conducting its closed beta by issuing beta keys to viewers who watch Valorant streamers play the game. The game shot to the top of Twitch’s browse page, and far surpassed anything behind it.

Many popular streamers are also flocking to the game, with both pro players from other titles and influencers kicking the tires on Valorant. This gives fans a great opportunity to earn a beta key while watching their favorite streamers, although not all streamers have drops enabled in their channels.

There have been reports of streamers falsely claiming their stream contains a chance for those drops. Fans are urged to look out for a message underneath the title of the stream. A green “Drops enabled!” text will appear below the category and photo of the game.

While the beta key drops are unquestionably the biggest reason for the game’s success on Twitch, Valorant is so highly anticipated that it would have done well with viewers regardless.

Viewers can make themselves eligible for drops by following the steps listed on the Valorant website, and then watching at least two hours of eligible streams. The game will become available for all players later this year.