When did VALORANT release?

Riot Games, the creators of League of Legends, originally teased VALORANT under the name Project A. This was their venture into something other than LoL with a competitive ability-based FPS. And in June 2020, it was just a few short months after the official announcement of VALORANT that Riot choose to release the game to the masses.

Development of VALORANT began in 2014. The goal for VALORANT's release was to create a game for casual players to enjoy and for an esports scene to thrive. That goal has been easily accomplished in its early years, as the FPS is one of the most popular and recognizable on the planet now.

The Project A name teased the first-person shooter in October of 2019. Come springtime of the following year, VALORANT had an official name upon its reveal. On March 1, 2021, Riot Games shared the first gameplay preview of VALORANT and the title was finally known.

A closed beta launched for VALORANT on April 7, 2020. Select players and streamers received access to the beta from Riot Games. Everyone else was able to watch their streams in hopes of a Twitch Drop providing them a key to the beta.

The closed beta ended on May 28, 2020. Riot Games shut it down for maintenance to prepare for the full VALORANT release just a handful of days later. The free-to-play title was officially available for most of the world, excluding China which launched in July 2023, on June 2, 2020.

Riot Games has indicated a mobile version of VALORANT is on its way. There have also been job postings for console development roles, which point towards an Xbox edition of the shooter. There are no official release dates for these versions of the game at this point, however.

Stay tuned to esports.gg for more esports news and VALORANT coverage.