When Twitch streamers were finally given permission to showcase VALORANT footage on April 3, the game peaked at 994,222 concurrent viewers, totaling 6.55 million hours watched, according to stats website Esports Charts.
That record was broken today, though, under an hour after the closed beta launched at 7am CT.
Riot’s competitive five-vs-five tactical shooter has been one of the most hyped up games of the year and the viewership numbers have clearly reflected that.
Last Friday, a reported 50,000 VALORANT beta “keys” were dropped to players from North America, Europe, Russia, and Turkey, only adding to the anticipation for the game.
At time of writing, VALORANT has over 1.2 million viewers on Twitch, with summit1g and TimTheTatman taking the brunt of the viewership.
Despite persistent issues with server stability, viewership for the game is expected to increase throughout the day, possibly breaking Twitch records. This time, over 100,000 beta keys are reportedly available, with that number increasing in the weeks and months to come, according to Riot.
The closed beta will be run until VALORANT releases this summer, with drops consistently being added to the pool.
