Valorant was played by nearly 3 million players a day during closed beta

(Image credit: Riot Games)

Valorant's beta might have been a closed one, but Riot was dropping keys like they were going out of style. Not surprisingly, a lot of people took advantage of the chance to get an early look at the shooter, and apparently they kept coming back. Riot claims that on average nearly three million people played the beta daily.

The beta was also responsible for other big numbers. Viewers on Twitch racked up a ridiculous 470 million hours watching other people play, 34 million of those hours just from one single day. At its peak, 1.7 million people were watching Valorant streams together.

CS:GO, its closest competitor, is no slouch either, despite being much older. In March, it broke 1 million concurrent players, eight years after it launched. It's consistently one of the most played games on Steam too, sometimes sitting at the top spot. Valorant can draw in the big numbers now, but it's all about that staying power.

Valorant's closed beta concluded yesterday, but you don't have long before you can jump back in. Riot's resetting accounts and preparing a new mode, agent and map, and then it will get a full release on June 2.

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.