BLAST will join forces with Twitch this month to become the latest tournament organizer to host a VALORANT Ignition Series event in the company’s first venture into the popular game.
Broadcast on twitch.tv/BLASTtv, the BLAST VALORANT Twitch Invitational will see four of the world’s top teams compete for a combined €50,000 prize pool over three action-packed online tournament days.
Teams competing in the final tournament of the VALORANT Ignition Series are FunPlus Phoenix, NiP, G2 Esports and Team Liquid. The event will consist of a double elimination best of 3 format and a best of 5 final.
The tournament will be broadcast exclusively on Twitch, and in addition to the elite competition BLAST will be announcing further exciting competitions and features of the live show before Friday’s opening match.
VALORANT has become the fastest growing esport in the world since the release of the title earlier this year. Set on a near-future Earth, in VALORANT you choose from a global cast of agents, all hailing from a real-world location and culture. Each agent brings a unique set of tactical abilities they can use to gather information, fortify locations, scout for enemy intel, breach defensive sites, control territory, and more. Abilities create unique tactical opportunities for you to take the right shot.
Nicolas Estrup, Director of Product and Experience at BLAST, said: “VALORANT has enjoyed record breaking success since its launch in June and has fast become a fan-favourite – we look forward to showing the community what BLAST can bring to the table with our industry leading production and popular fan-first approach. This tournament will be the final Ignition Series for European teams and will give viewers the platform to watch some of the world’s best VALORANT talent go head-to-head.”
Stuart Wettenhall, Senior Business Development Manager EMEA at Twitch added, “Valorant has been embraced wholeheartedly by our first-person shooter community on Twitch around the world. From the best talent through to costreaming in multiple languages, we hope to deliver a truly unique, live, interactive and engaging experience to this global fanbase.”
VALORANT quickly established itself as a fan-favorite among the global first-person shooter community after launching its closed beta in April 2020. The game made history on its first day, breaking viewership records with 34 million hours-watched in a single day, and surpassing 1.7 million peak concurrent viewers, a peak concurrent record second only to Riot Games’ 2019 League of Legends World Championship Finals. Fans also demonstrated their enthusiasm for the shooter by watching more than 470 million hours of VALORANT closed beta streams on Twitch, the world’s leading service and community for multiplayer entertainment.
BLAST will look to utilise its expertise in hosting leading tournaments in other popular esports titles to host an innovative and engaging Valorant tournament in collaboration with partner Twitch. In 2020 alone, BLAST has been broadcast around the world in 105 territories to over 151m households.
