Isn’t it a win-win situation in this scenario?
Valorant, which was launched in 2020, has been nominated for the Best Esports Game at The Game Awards, together with League of Legends since then.
Riot Games, the creator of the debut MOBA game, League of Legends, has been around since 2009. On their 10th anniversary in 2019, they revealed that they have also been silently working on different games across various genres, hence living up to the plurality of their brand.
Valorant, their first FPS, was launched amidst the pandemic in 2020.
It gained nominations for Best Esports Game alongside LoL in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 — and even won in 2022 and 2023.
The Best Esports Game? Valorant outdoes League of Legends for the second consecutive year in The Game Awards 2023
The year 2023 truly established Valorant esports.
It marked the initial year of the franchise system in VCT Americas, VCT Pacific, and VCT EMEA, with an expansion to VCT China being planned.
The Valorant Champions Tour 2023 kicked off with a significant offline tournament, LOCK//IN São Paulo, where all 30 franchised teams vied for superiority, with Fnatic emerging victorious.
The next noteworthy international tournament was a sell-out Masters Tokyo, which again saw Fnatic crowned champions, before the Valorant Champions 2023, held in Los Angeles, where Evil Geniuses completed their fairy tale.
2023 had also been a significant year for the esports wing of League of Legends. In an unprecedented occurrence, the Mid-Season Invitational featured a double elimination bracket in the playoffs.
After an intense fight, JD Gaming conquered over T1 3-2 in the semifinals and once again dominated Bilibili Gaming 3-1 in the final to win their first-ever MSI title.
Worlds 2023 also witnessed drastic format changes — the previous Group stage format was swapped out with Swiss stage. This change was positively welcomed by the community owing to the many memorable highlights it enabled.
In the final, T1 and Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok earned their fourth Worlds title, the highest any team has achieved in League of Legends history. In addition, he won the Best Esports Athlete at The Game Awards 2023 and the Esports PC Player of the Year at Esports Awards 2023.
The Best Esports Game is a category that was rolled out in 2015. League of Legends has been a regular nominee, earning nine nominations over the years.
The game won consecutively in 2019, 2020, and 2021. The next two years, 2022 and 2023, saw Valorant grabbing the title.
The Game Awards is an annual event that commences in 2014. It honors exceptional contributions in the gaming industry.
The awards feature various categories like Game of the Year and Best Art Direction, adjudged by both fan votes and expert panels.
More than just an award ceremony, it also serves as a key platform for game revealing and previews, and draws in a global audience, showcasing industry’s innovation and creativity.
You can watch the full ceremony here.
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