Valorant is the most popular free-to-play FPS game on the market right now. Due to its popularity, a lot of people wonder; when did Valorant come out?

Valorant has taken over the world as one of the best games to play. Esports tournaments are being held in every corner of the world and the game’s popularity is off the charts.

Let us look at the amazing journey of Riot’s beloved FPS.

When Did Valorant Come Out?

Valorant had a closed beta before it released worldwide. First we will look at the global release date of the game and then analyze the journey of Valorant and how it came to be on gamer screens.

Valorant’s Global Release Date

Valorant was released globally (Europe, Turkey, Middle East, North Africa, Russia, CIS, North America, Latin America, and South America) on June 2, 2020, amidst the pandemic. However, the release of the game’s various servers came way later when India and the Middle East got their own. The servers became available on October 14 later that year. Vietnam had a release the follwoing year on April 6th, 2021.

Valorant Closed Beta Release Date

Valorant released a closed beta and provided exclusive access to some players on April 7th. The closed beta was limited and it only included countries like Europe, Canada, Turkey, Russia, some CIS countries, and the United States of America.

Because the COVID-19 pandemic was ongoing during the time, Riot did not have the opportunity to release it in more regions. Since the closed beta was received well and the people who played it praised the developers, the open beta was greenlit.

Valorant Open Beta Release Date

Coincidentally, there was no Open beta for anyone since the access was only provided to a limited number of players, most commonly to Twitch streamers with big audiences so they can promote the game further. Plus, the limited keys caused a lot of scarcity which led to a lot of audiences spending hours on the stream of popular streamers in hopes of obtaining a key.

Besides, Riot decided to not have an open beta so that they could release the game directly in most regions.

Valorant China Release Date

Valorant was officially released in China on July 12, 2023. It was the last region in the world to get the game. It was distributed by the Chinese King Tencent Games and is believed to be “the most important game of the year” for them.

The game received approval for its release in December of the previous year. On June 28th, 2023 the Riot Games COO, Whalen Rozelle announced the release date for China. In addition, Riot hopes this creates a partnership with China as they hope to bring the region to VCT (Valorant Champions Tour) 2024.

When Does Valorant Come Out On Console?

Riot Games has finally decided to release Riot Games on console and it is available now on the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 albeit in an Open Beta form since there are tons of changes yet to be made for the game. Just like the PC version, it is free to play with a few gameplay changes tailor made for the console community.

Due to its popularity worldwide, it has already garnered tons of downloads and interest from fans who have been wanting to try the tactical shooter on their consoles. The Agent Pool, Map Pool and a couple of other features are different from the PC version so that the players can adapt to the game first.

If you like Valorant and learn about the game top to bottom, check out the Valorant Page, which has guides on Agents, map guides etc.