Southeast Asia shines as Masters Bangkok sets new Valorant viewership records

MANILA, Philippines — Riot Games’ most recent Valorant esports tournament, Masters Bangkok, achieved different milestones for the developer’s first major competition in Southeast Asia.

“Masters Bangkok already is our most watched Masters event in Asia with viewership coming up off Masters Tokyo in 2023 and Masters Shanghai in 2024. It's also our second most watched event ever because we reached the peak of 4.3 million viewers, Swiss Stage alone,” said Leo Faria, head of Valorant Esports.

Bangkok had always been the top destination in mind as the host country of the first international Valorant tournament in Southeast Asia.

“It has been a desire of ours to come to Southeast Asia for a long time. And yeah, Bangkok just felt like the perfect choice. Look, I think it's not an understatement to say Thailand is probably the second strongest region in VCT Pacific right now. The community is incredibly passionate. It just felt like the right place to come to,” added Faria.

With Valorant celebrating its fifth anniversary since its launch in 2020, it has constantly surprised the developers themselves as to how the game continues to evolve.

“I think one thing that constantly surprises us about Valorant esports, it's just like, how competitive the whole world is. Most esports sort of go down to one or maybe two countries nominate but the fact that you have not just the various leagues being represented in the finals [of Masters Bangkok], but from those teams, players from different countries within those territories, it's really special.” said Whalen Rozelle, chief operating officer of esports of Riot Games.

He also notes how passionate Valorant fans are all over the world, fostering a community that not only cheers for their favorite teams but also celebrates outstanding plays.

“I other thing that just constantly surprises us is how passionate the fans are. I mean, I really do believe that it's such a welcoming, warm community that can cheer for everyone. I think that speaks to a lot of, you know, local Thai fandom culture for sports, but also just for the connected love that Valorant players around the world have,” Rozelle added.

With Masters Bangkok ending up with home region bet T1 lifting the trophy, all eyes are now on Stage 1 of the Valorant Champions Tour, ending the stage in Masters Toronto this June with the 2025 season culminating with the Valorant Champions in Paris in October. 

But with the success of Masters Bangkok, could we see yet another Valorant tournament in Southeast Asia?

“The experience has been so incredible. That said, there’s still so many parts of the world we haven’t been to that we would like to come before repeating locations. They're Valorant players all over the world and we want to show them our appreciation as well. But we have been here before with VCT Pacific and we hope to be back,” said Faria.

VCT Pacific Stage 1 begins on March 22 in Seoul, South Korea. All-Filipino squad Team Secret hopes to break the international tournament drought this time, with other Filipinos players  Federico "Papi" Evangelista, Kelly "kellyS" Sedillo and Mark "patrickWHO" Musni of Global Esports, and Patrick “PatMen” Mendoza of Paper Rex.