Riot Games MENA celebrates Valorant's success with a trifecta of interactive hybrid events

Unique gamified approach will provide enriched real-time experience for players at live events in Egypt, Dubai and KSA as well those attending online across MENA

With some of the biggest Arab gaming talents in attendance, celebratory series kicks off in Egypt

Riot Games MENA has unveiled a first-of-its-kind hybrid event series across the MENA region that will see fans attending in-person battles with players online to celebrate the incredible support and growth of its latest hit game VALORANT.

The first event, taking place at Topline Family Park in Cairo, Egypt, will feature a dramatic interactive battlefield, performances by renowned DJs such as Zeina, and appearances by some of the region’s top gaming talent including EstubeGaming, LeOniDeS, ShaDowZa and Tuna.

To celebrate the passion for VALORANT that has taken the MENA region by storm since its launch in late 2020, the Cairo event, running from 10-11 December, will feature two waves that are each three hours long, of which the first waves on each day will be broadcast live on Twitch. With limited spaces available at the in-person event, the game resets in between waves to allow as many people as possible to experience the thrill.

Each wave mimics the hugely successful game by separating the physical and virtual worlds into Earth 1 and Earth 2 respectively with set missions and incredible storylines.

Players at the in-person event will be in Earth 1, the physical realm, with a mission to defuse the objective otherwise known as the spike in the game. Players from Earth 2 (online virtual realm) will be attempting to sabotage their missions and will be able to interact with the events in the physical venue aided by a commander and an undercover agent.

The commander is the online host of the event, who guides the show by live broadcasting from a remote studio while interacting with the audience and their undercover agent. The undercover agent, whose part is being kept under wraps until the event takes place, receives orders to aid the agents from Earth 2 in their sabotage. By handing the power to the community, RIOT Games aims to engage fans from across MENA through a single otherworldly mission experience.

Karim Hachani, Head of Publishing at RIOT Games said: “We are so excited to celebrate this game that has united so many players across our region. This experience highlights everything that a true VALORANT player loves about the game - it is our own way of saying thanks for their continuous support. Without them, we wouldn’t be celebrating this amazing year. We also want those who haven’t experienced VALORANT to get involved, see what all the buzz is about and interact in this unique and interactive experience.”

The show will start with an animated 10-minute countdown to set the tone, followed by an introduction from the online host who lays out the rules of engagement for both worlds.

After the introduction, the co-host appears and takes the players on a tour of the dramatic venue, introduced as a recon mission, where the battle is about to take place. Throughout the installations the players go through Q&A sessions hosted by an interviewer, where online agents can send questions to the players and influencers in the physical venue. Simultaneously, the physical host will interact with influencers and players in the lounge area called the clutch zone for live chats about the fan-favorite game.

Adrenaline inducing activations that attendees can take part in include:

Phoenix Flames: Unleash the Phoenix in you and superheat Radi-Core cubes as they fly across the air. Can you handle the heat?

Cypher's Corridor: Stay alert and remain hidden from the watchful eyes of Cypher. Avoid his surveillance lasers or risk revealing your location.

The event will close with an incredible DJ performance by Zeina on an interactive stage, where online agents can unlock special interactions in the physical space such as smoke machines, light cannons and stage lighting effects.

VALORANT is a competitive 5v5 character-based tactical shooter for the PC developed by Riot Games. VALORANT is a precise and lethal multiplayer game with high-fidelity gunplay, a diverse arsenal of guns, agents with unique abilities, and competitively tuned maps for thousands of hours of play.

VALORANT is a free-to-play game and optimized to perform on a wide variety of PC hardware, allowing for a global audience to compete. Demonstrated by the game’s best-in-class game server quality, global infrastructure, and proprietary anti-cheat technology, Riot Games is committed to preserving the core tenets of the tactical shooter genre and upholding the competitive integrity of the gameplay experience.

VALORANT quickly established itself as a fan-favorite among the global first-person shooter community after launching its closed beta in April 2020. The game made history on its first day, breaking viewership records with 34 million hours-watched in a single day, and surpassing 1.7 million peak concurrent viewers, a peak concurrent record second only to Riot Games’ 2019 League of Legends World Championship Finals. Over the course of VALORANT’s two-month beta testing period, an average of nearly 3 million players logged on each day to play. Fans also demonstrated their enthusiasm for the shooter by watching more than 470 million hours of VALORANT closed beta streams on Twitch, the world’s leading service and community for multiplayer entertainment, and Korean video-streaming service AfreecaTV.

Riot Games was founded in 2006 to develop, publish, and support the most player-focused games in the world. In 2009, Riot released its debut title, League of Legends, to worldwide acclaim. League has gone on to be the most-played PC game in the world and a key driver of the explosive growth of esports.

As League enters its second decade, Riot continues to evolve the game while delivering new experiences to players with VALORANT, Legends of Runeterra, Teamfight Tactics, League of Legends: Wild Rift, and multiple work-in-progress titles, while exploring the world of Runeterra through multimedia projects across music, comic books, TV, and more. Founded by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill, Riot is headquartered in Los Angeles, California, and has 2,500+ Rioters in 20+ offices worldwide.