After being on Twich for a week, upcoming tactical shooter VALORANT which is from the stable of Riot Games have posted 148.7 million hours of viewership.
The closed beta game has therefore shattered all expectations for viewership on Twitch, as the previous record set on high viewership on the platform in a week was around 30 to 40 million hours. Well it could be said that the COVID-19 lockdown also helped in creating this record.
Over the years, only a few titles have moved above the benchmark of 40 million. And this record has been revolving around the top esports events, which include Dota 2’s The International, a CS:GO Major or the League of Legends World Championship.
With VALORANT not only surpassing the benchmark, it effectively shattered the viewership record. According reports, only one game in the last two years has managed to have more hours watched for a full month than what VALORANT achieved in a week.
It could be recalled that Fortnite was at its apex and was the only game that posted over 150 million hours in a full calendar month in July 2018. The record was set due to Ninja’s explosion as a streaming personality.
While Fortnite recorded 152 million hours watched, the most-watched game last year eclipsed 150 million hours in a moth till October; even when Worlds was ongoing, it only recorded 125 million hours watched for a month.
VALORANT has been the talking point after its initial reach that has been described as impressive by pundits due to its iconic releases.
Although Apex Legends last February broke a few records for viewership in its opening month with over 30 million hours viewership.
VALORANT during its opening weeks in February 2019 accumulated 123 million hours watched, which was a pointer to what is to come and the record has finally been smashed.
Despite setting a new record, another game could overtake it with lockdown extended in many countries.
According to pundit, VALORANT may as well not have a long stint on Twitch. According to reports, VALORANT got the audience because of its newness and it gave closed beta access exclusively to individuals who watched specific VALORANT streams on Twitch.
Written by: Oladipupo Mojeed
