Valorant Reaches Huge Numbers on Twitch as Viewers Try to Get Beta Keys

Riot Games’ new first-person shooter called Valorant arrived on Twitch on Friday to give would-be players a better look at the gameplay Riot’s first attempt at the genre, and the game has already reached some impressively high numbers from players looking to get beta keys for the game. Watching the game played by some of the most popular streamers around is the first and best chance for people to get a key to the closed beta that’ll give them their first hands-on experience with the game, and people seem to like what they’re seeing from the first few Twitch streams.

Head over to the Valorant directory on Twitch and you’ll find that, at the time of publication, there are around 945,000 viewers watching streamers play Valorant. The number was higher than that previously as people tuned into their best look yet at the tactical shooter as the number of viewers climbed towards 1 million, though it started to taper off as any number would after the initial burst of viewers went away.

If you’re wondering why there were so many people swarming to Twitch to watch the streamers play with the beta, it’s partially because they wanted to see what the game was like and partially because they want to try it themselves. When Riot announced its plan for a closed beta, the company said players would be able to get beta keys by watching streamers play the game on Twitch. You had to follow a few steps to make sure you can get the beta keys, but following those doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get a beta key.

Riot officially revealed Valorant last month after first indicating its plans to enter the genre last year when it was announced that the company best known for League of Legends was working on a new shooter. It was operating under a working title since then with only hints about the game shared between its first mentioning and the official reveal.

Comparisons to both Overwatch and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive have been made after people saw their first looks at Valorant, but those who’ve gone hands-on with the game have said that it’s not a clone of either of those games and is instead its own unique combination of mechanics and gameplay elements.

Valorant does not yet have a release date, but its beta is scheduled to take place on April 7th.