This morning, Riot Games announced that their upcoming tactical shooter, VALORANT, would launch a closed beta. This will be done in collaboration with Twitch, starting April 7. As of a week from Tuesday, players from the United States, Canada, Europe, Russia, and Turkey can gain access to the game. This is done by following steps similar to the closed beta for Legends of Runeterra.
Word from Riot
Again, the game will only release in specific regions for the time being. Riot Games plans on rolling out to additional regions in time, but this depends on developments with the Coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement, VALORANT executive producer Anna Donlon said, “Our plan was to bring the VALORANT Closed Beta to as many players around the world as quickly as possible, but the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted those plans. For now, we have to focus on the regions where we feel most ready, with more regions following in the months to come.”
A few words on the beta
As is the case with any game entering a beta testing phase, any progress made during the closed beta will not carry forward after its official release. This allows everyone’s progress to start at the same time. Absolutely no progress will be retained when the game is finally released in full.
This does not apply, however, to the in-game points that you might buy. All of the points you buy during the beta will be given back to you in full when the game officially launches. Riot has also announced that it will give 20% extra VALORANT points to whoever purchases them during the closed beta. This is meant as a form of thank you for supporting the game as they work out the kinks.
How to sign up for VALORANT
Here’s how you can get access to the closed beta for VALORANT:
- Create a Riot account here.
- Link your Riot account to your Twitch account here.
- Watch specific VALORANT Twitch streamers after the beta starts in your region. This gives all viewers a chance to receive a beta key simply by tuning in.
Riot plans on expanding to additional regions in the months to follow.
About VALORANT
Here’s a short blurb that describes the game in full:
VALORANT is a competitive 5v5 character-based tactical shooter for the PC, currently in development at Riot Games. Set to launch around the globe for most regions in Summer 2020, VALORANT is a precise and lethal multiplayer game with high-fidelity gunplay, a diverse arsenal of guns, agents with unique abilities, and competitively tuned maps for thousands of hours of play.
VALORANT is a free-to-play game and optimized to perform on a wide variety of PC hardware, allowing for a global audience to compete. Demonstrated by the game’s best-in-class game server quality, global infrastructure, and proprietary anti-cheat technology, Riot Games is committed to preserving the core tenets of the tactical shooter genre and upholding the competitive integrity of the gameplay experience.