How's the Valorant Player Count Looking in 2023?

Updated · Mar 06, 2023

The bomb has been planted. Now...

Wait, never mind, wrong game.

Seriously, though, Counter-Strike and Valorant really do look similar. In fact, with its huge earnings and player count, Valorant might be the most successful game inspired by the legendary tactical shooter.

How did the game become so popular so quickly? Is the Valorant PC player count still as big as it used to be? What about its viewer base on Twitch?

Join us to find out all of this and more in the facts and stats below.

Developer: Riot Games

Year of release: 2020

Platforms: Windows

Genre: Competitive FPS

Stunning Valorant Facts (Editor's Choice):

  • Valorant became popular thanks to Riot’s partnership with Twitch.
  • Since its release, it has maintained at least 12 million active monthly players.
  • The monthly Valorant player count usually fluctuates by 500,000.
  • The peak number of concurrent players is three million.
  • The day after its closed beta release, around 34 million hours of Valorant were watched on Twitch.
  • The game peaked with 1.7 million concurrent viewers that same day.
  • It is the fifth most watched game on Twitch.

Valorant Info

Valorant is a highly-competitive tactical first-person shooter. Think Counter-Strike’s team structure with Overwatch-like heroes.

It combines elements from two very successful games, but unlike them, it’s free to play. It’s no wonder Valorant’s player numbers rose so quickly.

There’s more to that, though.

Here’s some crucial game info that can help you understand the reasons behind its success.

1. Valorant’s lead designers either worked on or played professionally Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

(Source: KemperLesnik)

People often put Valorant vs. CS:GO, and for a good reason. The two games are not only very similar but also have some of the same developers.

Was it a coincidence that Riot Games based Valorant on possibly the most popular first-person shooter? We’d say it was a well-thought smart move.

(Source: KemperLesnik) 

When did Valorant get popular? Believe it or not, its success began even before its release. Thanks to Riot’s partnership with Twitch, some of the most popular streamers played it considerably earlier.

This bumped the interest up and ultimately increased sales. As a result, Valorant’s player base was pretty big right off the bat.

After all, with top streamers like Ninja on its team, it had every chance of succeeding.

3. Valorant usually receives bigger, less frequent updates.

(Source: Dot Esports)

The game has had its fair share of content droughts. That said, Riot Games promised to start dishing out smaller updates more quickly.

This might further increase the Valorant player count in 2022. Not that it’s been in a bad state since its release, but it still could do better.

4. Will Valorant release Xbox and PlayStation versions?

(Source: PlayStation Universe)

While it’s a Windows-only game at the moment, chances are other versions will see the light of day soon. Just imagine what the Valorant player count for Xbox or Playstation would be.

It’s still not clear when that will happen, though. Riot Games said it’s open for this more than a year ago, and there’s still no result.

Valorant Players

Although Valorant isn’t available on PS4 or 5 or Xbox, its player count—coming just from PC users—is impressive.

5. The game has around 13 million monthly players.

(Source: ActivePlayer) 

Valorant’s monthly active players were over 15 million only the first two months after its release.

Still, the game hits over 14 million every so often. At the time of writing, there are over 13 million.

6. Valorant’s monthly player count fluctuates by around 500,000 per month.

(Source: ActivePlayer)

If we compare the monthly averages, we’ll see that they have been very consistent. Any variations in the monthly Valorant player count are within a margin of 500,000.

7. As of January 2022, Valorant has over 880,000 active players per day.

(Source: ActivePlayer)

Similarly to the monthly numbers, there are no drastic changes here. The count goes up or down by a slight margin.

For example, the daily Valorant players in October 2021 were just over 900,000.

8. The peak number of concurrent Valorant players is three million.

(Source: Esports Bets)

No matter how popular the game is, it can’t beat the record it set right after its release—three million concurrent players!

But Is Valorant dead?

No. Nearly two years later, its player base is still solid.

Valorant eSport

Right off the bat, Valorant had a huge viewer count, which helped it make it in the eSport world.

While very little is known about this game’s revenue, there is sizable info about the Valorant player and viewer base.

9. To enter tournaments, Valorant needs to remove the blood from the game.

(Source: KemperLesnik)

As silly as it sounds, this is the requirement of the game’s development team. Of course, there’s more than meets the eye here.

With blood disabled, Valorant can be more profitable as an eSport. Plus, it gives it an edge in the CS:GO vs. Valorant rivalry.

Its ESRB rating is T for Teen, while the newest Counter-Strike is rated M for Mature. Less graphic violence equals more popularity for Valorant with various gaming and non-gaming brands.

10. People watched around 34 million hours of Valorant one day after the release of its closed beta.

(Source: The Verge)

As we already mentioned, Riot Games’ tactic of promoting games through top streamers helped grow the Valorant player base.

On the closed beta day, Valorant broke the record for the most hours watched in a single game category.

How did that happen?

Initially, only those invited by Riot received a key. Others had to watch specific streams of the game to get it.

11. Valorant reached 1.7 million concurrent viewers during the closed beta launch.

(Source: The Verge)

Why did Valorant get popular? It caught the hearts of many people right away. It broke multiple records during the closed beta launch.

Not only is this the peak number of its concurrent viewers, it’s also the second-highest on Twitch overall. The only event that attracted more concurrent Twitch viewers was the 2019 League of Legends World Championship.

12. Valorant is the fifth most-watched game on Twitch.

(Source: GitHyp)

Is Valorant better than CS:GO? Well, that depends on your taste in games. That said, judging by the number of streams, Valorant is more popular.

Both games have been number one on Twitch at some point. As of January 2022, Valorant is ranked fifth, and CS:GO—eleventh.

Wrap Up

Two years after its release, Valorant’s player count and viewership are still big. Combining elements from a few already successful titles seemed to have worked really well for Riot Games.

What’s next for the game?

Only time can tell, but predictions are optimistic.

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Nick Galov
Nick Galov

Unaware that life beyond the internet exists, Nick is poking servers and control panels, playing with WordPress add-ons, and helping people get the hosting that suits them.