The Valorant Champions grand final between Acend and Gambit has set a new peak viewership record for the game with almost 1.1 million concurrent viewers.

The nail-biting five-map thriller between Acend and Gambit hit a peak viewership number of 1,089,068 viewers, according to statistics website Esports Charts. The series, which ended with a 3-2 victory for Acend, is now the most-watched match in the history of Valorant esports.

Previously, the record belonged to the grand final of the VCT Stage 2 Masters in Reykjavík, featuring Sentinels and Fnatic, which had garnered a peak viewership of 1,085,850 people.

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1 089 068 Peak Viewers on Grand Finals of VALORANT Champions 2021. New record for @ValorantEsports. @AcendClub vs @GambitEsports most popular match of VALORANT events.

Masters Reykjavík Peak Viewers – 1 085 850

— Esports Charts (@EsportsCharts) December 12, 2021

The fact that Valorant esports have hit a new peak viewership despite the struggles of North American teams is particularly impressive. Sentinels and Envy crashed out of Valorant Champions in the group stage, while Cloud9 Blue were eliminated in the quarter-finals, leaving three teams from EMEA and KRU Esports of South America left as the event headed into its final weekend of action.

Sentinels were the most popular team at the VCT Stage Masters events in Reykjavík and Berlin and had the second-highest average viewership at Valorant Champions with 612,481 people. Their series against FURIA and KRU Esports were in the top five matches for peak viewership in the tournament.

Gambit were the most popular team at Valorant Champions, averaging 647,059 viewers, while Acend had the fourth-highest average viewership at 554,461 people.

A big reason for the viewership numbers that Valorant Champions amassed was the Twitch drops that were made available throughout the tournament. Viewers had to watch one hour of action between December 1-11 to win the VCT 2021 Spark Spray, and one hour of the grand final on December 12 to claim the VCT 2021 Spark Buddy.

Below you can find the Valorant tournaments with the highest peak viewership:

• Valorant Champions – 1,089,068
• VCT Stage 2 Masters – 1,085,850
• VCT Stage 3 Masters – 811,370
• Twitch Rivals – 692,277
• 100 Thieves Invitational – 443,637

Valorant Champions brought the curtain down on the first full year of international competition in the game, with preparations for 2022 already underway.

On December 10, Riot Games announced the roadmap for next year’s Champions Tour, featuring an off-season tournament series run by third-party organizers, two Masters events in April and July, and one Champions tournament in September. Riot has also announced that it will host a global women’s tournament as part of its Game Changers initiative.

The 2022 Champions Tour will kick off in February with the first of two Challengers splits.

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