Valorant broke the record for China’s most successful PC release when the competitive first-person shooter was officially launched on July 12.
Valorant’s launch in China amassed an impressive number of active users. It also reached new heights in viewership on Huya, one of China’s biggest streaming platforms.
Riot Games initially introduced Valorant to the global gaming community in 2020. But because of licensing issues, the game’s entry into the Chinese market was delayed until this year.
Valorant’s launch in China propels it right behind League of Legends
Niko’s China Games Streaming Tracker data documented Valorant’s rapid growth in the Chinese region. This tracking tool oversees more than 700 games and 144,000 channels across China’s top gaming platforms, such as DouYu, Huya, and Bilibili.
Within Valorant’s first week, it ascended to the second-highest position in terms of viewership among PC games on popular platforms, trailing only behind League of Legends.
Valorant’s viewership also ranked above CrossFire by nearly threefold.
Around 8,000 channels streamed Valorant daily during its launch week, which tallied to an average of 44,000 hours of gameplay across platforms.
Valorant’s rise in China could also be attributed to the success of its Chinese representatives at Valorant Champions. Edward Gaming and Bilibili Gaming, two of the three Chinese teams that qualified for this year’s Valorant world championship, made it into the bracket stage.
The support the Chinese teams have received at Valorant Champions is also refreshing, with EDG and BLG becoming crowd favorites in Los Angeles.
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