shrado [#50]
It shouldn't have won, almost nothing has happened of note. This is just recency bias and people being excited about a new game + enthusiastic 11 year old fanbase voting for it
Poor take. Valorant as an esport has established itself as one of the premier games in just a single year. Let me tell you that 2020-21 was the period of lockdown which means a lot of people started playing games. A lot of e-sports titles like R6, CS, Pubg, Pubg Mobile, Lol, FF, Dota 2 already existed in the esports market. The level of competition for Valorant was really huge when it was launched. It received a lot of hype coz it was a new game but hype generally dies down after 6-7 months.
Secondly, establishing an esports environment in regions like SA, SEA where mobile games dominate the market is really a tough task. Third, in the first year of Valorant it has been able to provide an esports environment for Girls in the form of Gamechangers.
Launching of a new game in a market and dominating one of the biggest esports titles in the very first year of establishment is indeed a feat and that's why Valorant deserves the award. It has ventured into new circuits and has made itself very successful.