Valorant becomes fourth most-watched game, category on Twitch

Riot Games’ first-person shooter Valorant has become the fourth most-watched category on Twitch for the first time, surpassing major esports title like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, Fortnite, and more. 

Valorant was initially badgered for being a copy of CSGO, but tons of players flocked to Riot’s shooter, making it the hot FPS game in 2021. Following a successful first anniversary, new data has revealed that Valorant is climbing charts on Twitch. 

According to Streamcharts, Valorant has climbed two spots in a month to acquire the fourth position in the most-watched category. The game has breezed past other popular competitive titles, becoming the second most-watched esports title behind Riot’s MOBA League of Legends. With hundreds of streamers playing Valorant and a major esports tournament taking place for the game, the game managed to garner a total of 99.9 million watch hours in the month of May. 

Valorant becomes second most-watched esport on Twitch

Riot Games tipped its toes into the first-person shooter realm for the first time in 2020 with Valorant. The shooter quickly became a competitive phenomenon, but it was just as popular among casual Twitch viewers. Those who don’t even play Valorant enjoy watching the colourful virtual universe featuring powerful agents. 

Valorant has always been popular among casual viewers due to many popular Twitch streamers playing it live. However, the game was slacking in the esports department. The sudden jump up two spots could be attributed to Valorant’s first major LAN event in Reykjavik, Iceland, where exciting games and storylines attracted viewers to tune in on Twitch. Over one million concurrent viewers watched the grand final live, with most of that number coming from Twitch. Partnered streamers including Michael “shroud” Grzesiek, Imane “Pokimane” Anys, and many more largely contributed to the big number peaks during VCT.

• VCT Masters 2 Europe vs North America stream draws 700K viewers
  

The VCT series clashed with CSGO’s regional major ranking event Flashpoint, and the CSGO tournament was overshadowed on Twitch. Soaring numbers from the Reykyavik final combined with Valorant’s steady viewership across all channels enabled the game to jump up two spots within one month. 

The game is now in competition with one of the biggest esports on Twitch. League of Legends boasted 173.51 million watch hours. It’s unlikely Valorant can surpass LoL’s numbers in the near future, but anything is possible considering Valorant’s rapid success in esports.