The first match of the most anticipated VALORANT tournament pulled in 690,066 peak viewers, according to statistics provided by EsportsCharts.
The best team in Asia, Vision Strikers, faced off against FULL SENSE today in the first match of Group D. Vision Strikers took down their opponents with ease and finished both maps with a 13-5 scoreline.
This match pulled around 2,000 viewers less than the grand finals of the most recent VALORANT Champions Tour event, Stage 3: Masters Berlin, which was also held in Berlin, Germany. The final between Team Envy and Gambit Esports saw a peak viewership of 692,486.
One potential reason for the spike in viewership is the drop system in place for VALORANT Champions. Riot Games revealed that viewers will be able to receive a gun buddy and a spray if they watch Champions via the official VALORANT Twitch, YouTube, Afreeca or Trovo streaming services.
Viewers must connect their VALORANT accounts through each respective streaming service to be eligible for the loot. The VCT Spray will be available from Dec. 1-11 while the VCT Gun Buddy will be an exclusive drop during the grand finals on Dec. 12. More information on the drops system can be found on the VALORANT Esports website.
Champions is considered the biggest and most anticipated VALORANT event of the year. The tournament, hosted by Riot Games, is similar in scale to the League of Legends World Championship or a Valve-hosted major event in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
VALORANT Champions is the culmination of the best teams from across several major and minor regions. Teams from Europe, North America, Asia and many more are represented at the final international event of the year.
The tournament will continue later today with Brazilian side Team Vikings set to face off against Japanese team Crazy Raccoon. The final match of the day will see European team Fnatic take on North American side Cloud9 Blue.
