The official launch of VALORANT in China has seen massive numbers in terms of active players and livestream viewership.
Daniel Ahmad, Director of Research & Insights at Niko Partners, has revealed some big news about VALORANT in China. Tencent confirms that the Riot Games first-person shooter is the company's most successful PC release in the country, based on active launch day users.
VALORANT received a license to release in China in December 2022. It finally launched on July 12, 2023 after multiple beta testing periods. Even prior to that, we've seen the rise Chinese professional teams in the VCT. It's safe to assume the game will continue to grow there.
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VALORANT was the #2 most-viewed PC game during its first week in China
Niko Partners tracks data from over 700 games and 144,000 channels across the multiple streaming platforms in China. This includes DouYu, Huya, and Bilibili. Per Niko, collected data show that VALORANT was just behind League of Legends in terms of viewership for the first week of its launch.
And even though it came in second, it was still 3x higher than the third most-viewed game, CrossFire. It earned its place with an average of 8,000 channels streaming the game each day during its first week and an average of 44,000 gameplay hours watched.
All of this comes at a time where the esports industry finds itself in uncertainty. Organizations aren't profiting, but viewership and prize money seem to be on the rise. It's a confusing time in esports and stats like this can be compared to a light the end of the tunnel.
China is a massive market in the overall gaming landscape. It only makes sense that VALORANT's worldwide growth has finally made it there. With the likes of EDG and BLG performing well at VALORANT Champions 2023, along with a Masters tournament on the horizon, expect it to keep trending upward.
Stay tuned to esports.gg for more esports news and VALORANT coverage.
