The Valorant India Invitational is one of the official Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Off-season events for the APAC region. It was organized by Galaxy Racers and the LAN finals took place at GMR Arena, Hyderabad. The AMD-powered event boasted a prize pool of $100K and was streamed on the official Youtube, Glance and Twitch channels of Galaxy Racer. The Championship also witnessed a collaboration with Sunburn, Arena to showcase a mix of esports and music for the very first time.
The LAN finals of Valorant India Invitational recorded a massive 9 million plus viewers across Galaxy Racers’ YouTube, Twitch and Glance streaming platforms. The Hindi commentary stream of the event alone noticed a staggering 6 million views.
Also Read: Amazon India Could be Preparing to Launch Prime Gaming in India
Paper Rex is the Champions of Valorant India Invitational, Receives $50,000 Prize Money
Valorant India Invitational LAN finals featured a total of eight teams (5 Invited + 3 Qualified) in which Enigma Gaming and GodSquad (Global Esports) were the Indian teams to participate. However, they did not make it to the playoffs while 4 teams including Team Heretics, Paper Rex, Bleed Esports and Team Secret locked their slots in the Playoffs.
Singapore-based pro outfit Paper Rex was pitted against Spanish team Heretics in the Grand Finals where the finals followed a BO5 format. During the Final match, it was Paper Rex who clinched the match against Team Heretics with a 3-1 scoreline and ultimately won the Championship while taking home the big chunk of the $100K prize pool. Their heroics were also lauded by the strong Hindi-speaking market (HSMs) as India hosted the first-ever mega international level Valorant event.
Siddharth Ravishankar, the Chief Gaming Officer at Galaxy Racer stated “Bringing a Tier 1 event blended with the music industry was a unique experience for us, and we are extremely grateful to the community for their response. Some of the best teams in the world, 4 of which being debutants from the upcoming Valorant Partner Program all stepped up to the mantle, providing a taste of some Top Class Valorant to come into the new season and format going into 2023.”
Team Heretics loved the Indian community and their response and the attendees from the team expressed their views in the following words: “Valorant India Invitational and Sunburn Music Festival in Hyderabad was definitely something special for us as a team. It was great to play our first LAN as a team and also get to play against other teams from the APAC region.”
The Valorant India Invitational provided a platform for some of Valorant’s top personalities and teams to compete against one another for the first time. The grandeur of the event and the fans’ reaction speak to the promise of this PC-based game in India, especially with additions like the music-and-esports combination.
On the contrary, few of the teams and audience had other views during the LAN finals and many reported that the event is not organized to its standards. Power cuts, delays between matches and multiple other issues have distressed a few of the participants.
Also Read: Apex Legends Mobile Wins Best Game of the Year for Both Android and iOS
