Valorant Breaks Twitch Single-Day Viewership Record

Riot’s new tactical shooter Valorant is still in beta, but that hasn’t stopped players from flooding to Twitch in order to catch a glimpse of the team behind League of Legends' next game. Over 1.7 million viewers tuned were watching the game on Twitch at its peak, according to PC Gamer, watching those lucky enough to have made it into the closed beta.

Riot Games also announced that Valorant also broke the single-day viewership record on April 3, with 12.2 million total hours watched.

Big name Twitch streamers and professional esport players such as xQc, Pokimane, DrDisprespect, Surefour, and more have been streaming the beta around the clock since it began early last week. They have even been provided with beta keys to give away live on stream. While Riot allowed streamers to roll out some content and footage last week, it’s the real-time footage that players want to see.

Valorant peaked with about as many viewers as Fortnite did during the black hole event during the black hole event back in Fortnite: Chapter 2. The black hole event, which ended in Fortnite being rebranded as Fortnite: Chapter 2 after its map was destroyed, was a major milestone for the game, while these viewer numbers are reflective of the hype Valorant has built up in the lead up to release.

"Our hearts, inboxes, and social media DMs are filled to the brim with all of the enthusiasm for the VALORANT Closed Beta. At this moment we are laser-focused on delivering a truly global experience for competitive tac-shooter fans, and we're already learning many lessons," said executive producer Anna Donlon, in a statement. "This is just the beginning of our journey with players, and as we roll out our server infrastructure in these tumultuous times, we're looking forward to inviting more VALORANT players from around the world into this digital community."

It still remains to be seen where Valorant ends up compared to the genre titans like Overwatch or Team Fortress 2, but with this many people just tuning in to watch the beta, Valorant may be in for a busy launch.

Valorant is set to release in summer 2020 on PC, but Riot has yet to announce a more specific release date.