Valorant entered its much-anticipated closed beta release today with a bang. Just hours after launch, the hot new Riot Games title has already taken the #3 spot on the all-time Twitch viewership record list, breaking the near-1.7m mark set by the Fortnite World Cup finals in 2019.

There are a whole lot of people stuck at home right now due to COVID19. There are also a whole lot of people looking for closed beta access to Valorant. This has created the perfect storm for some legendary Twitch viewership records to be taken down. And that’s exactly what we are experiencing right now.

According to TwitchStats, Fortnite set the 3rd highest mark for concurrent viewership of all time in 2019. Carried by the finals of the inaugural World Cup, the game recorded 1,689,910 concurrent viewers on July 28, 2019, at 5:09 PM. And that monumental mark was torn down by Valorant today.

In the late afternoon of April 7, 2020, Valorant recorded a tally of 1,727,481 concurrent viewers. This trounced the number set by the Fortnite World Cup by almost 40,000 viewers. This number was less than 50K viewers shy of the single-game record set by the League of Legends World Championship grand finals on November 10, 2019. It was also less than 65K viewers shy of the all-time record set by E3 2018, which drew a peak viewership of 1,792,107.

Why are so many people watching Valorant streams?

As we alluded to earlier in this post, the only way to get access to the Valorant closed beta right now is via Twitch. Players are tasked with linking their Twitch and Riot Games accounts and then watching various Valorant streams. At that point, you just have to hope to be lucky enough to get a drop. To do this, the streams you watch have to be marked with the “Drops Enabled” tag. Look for the green or grey tag under the video.

Please beware of streams with “Drops” in the title without the accompanying tag. Many people are incorrectly labeling their streams to trick viewers in an effort to capitalize on the rush of traffic to the site.

Will Valorant break the all-time Twitch record? While chances are low, today is the best opportunity the game will likely have for a long time. Interest is at an all-time high, as is the thirst for beta access. For updates, guides, and all future game news, check out the Daily Esports Valorant page.