Valorant Is Seeing a Resurgence on Loco

Valorant is one of the most popular esports titles in India and the game has grown tremendously in the country since 2020. Riot Games has taken an interest in the Indian audience and has taken steps to ensure the game succeeds as an esports title in the region by hosting events in the country and by including it in the Valorant Champions Tour.

The content creation community also adores the game and we have seen the game take off on homegrown streaming platform Loco with over 46.8 million views being generated by streamers on the platform. Recently, the platform aired the All-Stars Showdown featuring four teams led by some of the biggest creators on the platform as well as the official reveal for Valorant’s first Indian agent “Harbor”. But what makes the game so popular and why is it becoming so popular on streaming platforms? Let’s find out.

Esports Has Played a Crucial Part in Valorant’s Success

Since Valorant’s release, esports event organizers like Penta Esports, Nodwin Gaming, Viper Esports, and The Esports Club have supported the Valorant tournament scene in India. The organizers have streams in multiple languages making the esports content more accessible to the Indian audience.

The Esports Club is currently hosting the South Asia Nationals event which has seen almost 1,00,000 viewers tune in to the streams during the group stages alone. The official Valorant Champions Tour circuit has also helped promote Valorant in the country. The Viper Invitational also drew in thousands of viewers when it was broadcasted on Loco.

With Indian esports organization Global Esports set to represent India on the international stage at the Pacific League in 2023, we can expect Indian esports fans to be even more involved with Valorant esports content on streaming platforms.

Regional Content Creators are Focusing on Valorant Content

There are full-time Valorant content creators as well as high-profile streamers from other games who have been streaming the game. While the game has not seen the same level of success as GTA V or Free Fire, the game has seen over 46.8 million viewers tune in to streams by creators.

One of the recent events that drew the attention of fans across the country was the All-Stars Showdown on Loco which featured four teams led by Tanmay “Scout” Singh, Pratik “Jogiya” Alpha, Naman “MortaL” Mathur and Raj “Snax Gaming” Sharma. The event helped communities of several content creators come together in the fun competitive event and cheer their favorite players.

Valorant also recently got its first Indian agent “Harbor” who was officially revealed in a live event. Harbor’s launch event, which featured many of India’s biggest gaming celebrities, was also officially streamed on Loco and thousands of fans tuned in to the event.

We also have streamers like Siddhant “Sid” Joshi, Kaashvi “Kaash Plays” Hiranandani, and Salman “Mamba” Ahmad who dominate viewership whenever they decide to stream in the Valorant category on Loco. There are countless streamers who have found their niche on streaming platforms and create content around the game.

Valorant Has Helped Introduce Gamers to PC Gaming

India is one of the biggest mobile gaming markets and historically we have seen mobile gamers outnumber PC and console gamers in the country. While that has not changed, a lot of players are now interested in PC gaming thanks to Valorant.

The game is not hardware-intensive and it is accessible to anyone who has an entry-level laptop or PC. There are also a lot of players who have picked up Valorant as their first competitive shooter on PC and they are turning to homegrown content creators like Rishab “rakazonegaming“ Karanwal and Shobith "TbOne" Rai for entertainment or to learn from them.

Gaming and esports are becoming more socially acceptable in the country and the stigma around gaming as a career has also reduced, which has led to bigger gaming communities as well as creators who are jumping into PC gaming.

Streaming content is accessible to anyone with a smartphone, tablet, or PC and the creators are catering to the Indian audience through innovative content. From a PC gamer’s perspective, Valorant is leading the charge for Indian esports and could prove to be a key factor in expanding India’s presence in esports.