Now That Valorant Is Gone, What Are You Playing?

 

Competitive shooter Valorant is taking a little break right now. Well, correctly, the game is going into bug fix mode, so developer Riot Games has decided to take the game down on May 28, to prepare for the full release on June 2, 2020. Right after access to the Beta concluded, every other game that got dwarfed on Twitch came out of the woodwork to dunk on the same joke, be it a pretty funny one. Overwatch, Apex Legends and Fortnite all stuck their necks back out to post numbers. Here's one for the game's most accurate comparison, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO):

 

Valorant keys stopped dropping? OMG VALORANT WILL DESTROY CSGO!!!!! pic.twitter.com/dvL1MEO7Ml

— Ro§es | 玫瑰 (@broses1337) May 29, 2020

 

In the short time of its accessibility, Valorant has taken in dozens of notable figures in competitive gaming. Many announced they would be leaving their current game for Riot's title. Most notably, player Sinatraa stated they would leave San Francisco Shock, the team who won the Overwatch League, to go play Valorant for esports organization Sentinels. Other professionals from Playerunknown's Battlegrounds and CSGO have made the switch as well. In the month of May, Riot's shooter averaged over 200,000 viewers, so it's safe to say plenty of people from other games flocked to the new release. Now, however, the game is unavailable, so where have all those people gone to?

At the time of writing, the most popular game on Twitch, by some margin, is League of Legends, within the Riot Games ecosystem. The arena game is the only channel with well over 200,000 viewers still. After that, the largest crowds go to CSGO, Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto V and DotA 2, in that order. Most of these titles are the usual heavy hitters on the streaming platform, though it's likely not a coincidence that the two largest are the amalgamation of Valorant. People are still noticeably excited for the shooter's release. In comparison, Overwatch stands at a bit over 20,000 viewers.

Now the question is: Where are the players, those who populate the game, waiting for the release of Valorant? Have people gone back to the safe havens of their first game, like many Overwatch players are doing? Or are some exploring other possibilities, to prepare for the launch? It might be time to hop into CSGO for a while, so you can maintain that muscle memory and flex on the big day. 

If you've been actively playing or watching Valorant, we'd love to hear from you in the comments.
 

Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed
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