ESPN's Valorant Invitational Is Live With Pros From Overwatch, Fortnite, And More

Competitive gaming has changed over the last few months, with in-person events canceled, but Valorant, the new team-based shooter from Riot Games, aims to inject some new life into the scene with a high-profile event. The ESPN Esports Valorant Invitational is today, April 20, and it includes professional players from some of the biggest games on the planet.

Streaming exclusively on Twitch beginning at 12:30 PM PT / 3:30 PM ET on April 20, the Valorant Invitational includes eight teams with players from Counter-Strike: GO, Fortnite, League of Legends, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Rainbow Six Siege, Apex Legends, and Overwatch. Valorant's own developers will also take part in the tournament.

The tournament will last until April 22, and it should be interesting to see how the different games' professional players adapt. Most of them are shooters already, with the only exception being League of Legends, but the tactical gameplay style could give the CS:GO and Rainbow Six Siege teams an advantage.

Valorant includes a "show blood" toggle in its settings in order to make the game more suitable for broadcasts. Riot Games mandates that broadcasters disable blood during competition.

Valorant is currently in closed beta testing, and you can get into the beta by watching Valorant streams with your Riot account linked. It will officially release on PC later this summer, with its final launch date still unannounced.