Valorant, a first-person shooter developed by Riot Games, made a notable entry into the Chinese market on July 12, breaking records for the most successful PC launch in the country. Even though Valorant was released globally in 2020, the release of Valorant in China has been delayed due to licensing issues.
Since its launch, Valorant has attracted a significant number of active users, with viewership skyrocketing on Huya, one of the largest streaming platforms in China. According to data from NikoNiko China Games Streaming Tracker, which tracks over 700 games and 144,000 channels across major gaming platforms such as DouYu, Huya and Bilibili, Valorant has quickly gained popularity in the Chinese region.
In its first week, Valorant moved into second place in terms of the number of viewers among PC games on popular platforms, behind only League of Legends. Its audience was also almost three times that of CrossFire. During launch week, approximately 8,000 channels streamed Valorant daily, resulting in an average of 44,000 hours of gameplay watched across all platforms.
The success of Valorant in China can be partially attributed to the achievements of its Chinese representatives in the Valorant Champions League. Two of the three Chinese teams, Edward Gaming and Bilibili Gaming, have qualified for this year’s Valorant World Championship and made it to the bracket. The Chinese teams received significant support and became crowd favorites in Los Angeles.
The growing popularity and success of Valorant in China point to its great potential in the Chinese video game market. With its impressive audience and dedicated community, Valorant has the potential to make a significant impact on the Chinese esports scene. Fans are looking forward to further developments and the possible appearance of a Valorant map in the style of Los Angeles.
