A Full Month of Valorant Events Marks the Game’s First Anniversary
Today, the 2nd of June, marks the one-year anniversary since Valorant’s 2020 release. To celebrate, Riot Games has announced that a mobile version of the game is in development, and that players can look forward to a full month of Valorant events!
VALORANT YR1: A Whole Month of Valorant Events
“With one year of VALORANT in the books,” writes Riot, in a blog post about today’s anniversary; “the only proper thing to do is celebrate for a month. That’s why in June we kick off VALORANT YR1, a slate of events and opportunities – both in-game and out – to thank you with cool stuff for a year’s worth of headshots, Spike plants, and insta-locking Duelists.”
All told, there are no less than 10 Valorant events taking place this month. Some of these are in-game events which began today or which will begin later in June. Others are specific livestreams or announcements. These events are as follows:
- Night.Market: Available from today, players can now access Night.Market, which offers a set of six random skins. These will be available to buy at a discount and are unique to every Valorant player.
- Give Back Bundle: From today until the 7th of June, Valorant fans can cast a vote for their favourite old weapon skins to return in the ‘Give Back Bundle’. The winning skins will be announced on the 16th, and the bundle itself will be available for purchase between the 22nd and the 8th of July. 50% of the proceeds from the Weapon Skins and 100% of the proceeds from Accessories in the bundle will go towards the charitable Riot Games Social Impact Fund.
- Player Cards: Later this month, Riot will be launching a new Limited Edition YR1 set of Player Cards. The first will be available to redeem on the 9th, while the second will be in a Prime Gaming Drop on the 14th. The third and final will be part of the YR1 Event Pass, below.
- Community Battlepass: From the 13th to the 25th of June, players will be able to vote for all sorts of unique items. These votes will be organised by global region. The top-voted items will appear in a special Community Battlepass in Valorant Episode 4.
- Episode 3 Livestream: At 10:00 AM PT on the 21st of June, Riot will be hosting a livestream featuring a panel of developers from the Agents, Competitive, and Premium Content teams.
- Account Levelling: On the 22nd of June, Valorant will; “add a new way to recognise and reward you for playing Valorant”. Players can expect to learn the details of this new feature during the Episode 3 Livestream.
- Squad Boosts: From the 22nd of June to the 26th of July, all players will benefit from a Squad Boost. This means that players will earn more XP than normal when playing with a party. Queuing as a pair will earn you +8% XP. A three-person team will earn +12% extra XP. Four players will get +16%, and finally, five players will earn a bonus +20%.
- YR1 Event Pass; From the 22nd of June to July 6th, all players will get free access to the Valorant YR1 Event Pass. This includes 7 event-exclusive levels of YR1 items which players can unlock by earning in-game XP. (Including the third Player Card, mentioned above).
- wwFest: This music and arts festival first took place in Valorant earlier this year. It will be returning for the first time on the 25th of June. Details on the artists who will be performing at the festival are a secret until closer to the date.
- New Agent: Riot has teased that a new Agent will be revealed during the YR1 month of celebration. However, the exact date of this reveal is unknown.