Riot announce closed beta for Valorant: Release date, regions, more

Riot Games have announced their closed beta release for Valorant – the highly anticipated character-based tactical shooter.

The hype is real for Riot Games’ venture into the first-person shooter realm. Fans from all corners of the esports world have been keeping tabs on all of Valorant’s teasers as we edge closer to the Summer 2020 release date.

Many have tipped the tactical shooter to be the perfect hybrid between Overwatch and CS:GO. And now, fans are one step closer to getting their hands on it for themselves as they’ve announced the closed beta.

When is Valorant’s closed beta?

Valorant’s closed beta is set to be pushed live on April 7, 2020. Meaning that players will have just over a week from Riot’s announcement to prepare themselves for the grind.

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In terms of how long the beta will last, the company simply stated that they’re looking to keep the closed beta “as short as we can while getting additional regions online.”

With that in mind, the League of Legends developers stated that if they receive a lot of “unexpected feedback” from players during this period, they will re-evaluate.

Is Valorant’s closed beta coming to my region?

Given the inherent logistical strains that come with the ongoing global health situation, Riot is rolling out their closed beta to a set number of regions.

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The regions that will have access to Valorant’s closed beta are: Canada, Europe, Russia, Turkey, and the United States.

However, fear not, as Riot has pledged to try and get more regions online, “pending the volatile logistics of launching a beta effectively during a global pandemic.”

How do I register for Valorant’s closed beta?

Riot will be providing fans with an opportunity to play the Valorant beta by tuning into selected Twitch streams.

Providing that fans have linked their Riot and Twitch accounts, all they’ll need to do is tune into specific Valorant streams (which will be highlighted on Twitch). For a full breakdown on how to get early access to Valorant, check out our ‘how to play’ guide.

Discussing the closed beta launch in a press release, Anna Donlon stated: “Our plan was to bring the Valorant closed beta to as many players around the world as quickly as possible, but the pandemic has impacted those plans, compromising a wider global rollout.”

“For now, we have to focus on the regions where we feel most ready, with more regions following in the months to come.”