Top Esports: Valorant’s rise to popularity in Southeast Asia
In June 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, Riot Games released Valorant that unexpectedly toppled the gaming market in Southeast Asia. Follow for top esports contents.
Since the release of Valorant to the online gaming market two years ago, it has rocked the gaming community after its first year with an average of 14 million users on PC every month. Although the game can give the credits more to Europe and North American users, it is very notable and very surprising for the Riot Games that Valorant is also rising in the Southeast Asia region, with Philippines emerging as a main driver. You can check other valorant esports related news articles here!
In an interview with Yahoo Southeast Asia with Riot Games General Manager in Hongkong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia ‘Justine Hulog’ admitted that they are pleasantly surprised with the shocking popularity of the game. The Philippines became a primary driver of VALORANT’s success in the region despite the different circumstances in the area at the time it was released. Philippines and Indonesia have very strict rules and lockdown protocol during the pandemic, computer shops or PC cafes are all closed due to lockdown, so it is very surprising that Philippines and other southeast asian regions became a one of the primary factors to the popularity of this game.
In a data gathered by Streamlabs, espite COVID surge took down the whole globe into lockdown last two years ago, the live streaming games on sites like Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook contributes to the surge of viewership hitting to a staggering of over 8.2 billion hours. SullyGnome ranked VALORANT in 2020 as the fourth most watched game on Twitch.
Valorant’s surge to popularity in Southeast Asia, and in Philippines, comes with no surprise for Hugo as he traces back and added the popularity of CS: GO (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive) and PlayerUnknown’s Battleground (PUBG) are still famous in the country.
“I’m from the Philippines, and while I was there, I recall seeing a lot of people playing CS:GO, so it’s always been a popular game,” Hulog emphasizes.
Based on the gaming analytics firm Newzoo, Philippines was the world’s 25th – largest market in terms of game revenues in 2020, with a sum of 43 million Filipinos spending over US$570 million. 60% of the country’s internet population consumes gaming video material. Hugo emphasizes the “player-focused” development of the game as the primary reason for the game’s success.
Currently, Valorant keeps on expanding and reaching its popularity into new heights, reaching the eastern part like China and Korea and taking over the market. Although, in Korea, League of Legends still topples the lead on most online games on PC. In a research conducted by Gametrics.com. With the current survey, the Valorant are struggling to break through the Top 3 while League of Legends still toppling the table . While PUBG and FIFA Online 4 follow behind LOL.
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