Valorant had a significant year for esports, but its Twitch viewership numbers declined substantially in 2025, following notable retirements and the rise of other popular games throughout the year.

Generally, most major esports titles suffered for Twitch viewership throughout 2025 (besides Counter-Strike, which rose significantly). Riot Games‘ other flagship title, League of Legends, experienced a 20% drop in viewership over the course of the year.

And, according to SullyGnome, Valorant’s drops have been even worse.

Valorant Hours Watched Down by Over 30%

In 2025, hours watched in Valorant on Twitch dropped almost 270 million, a dip of 31%. The number of hours streamed decreased by a similar amount, with a 29% loss, while the maximum viewership was almost 50% lower than it was in 2024.

This could be due to several factors. While esports fans are still very much interested in the game, the more casual player base has slowly moved away from the FPS title, in favor of other new games that have come out. This means many now prefer to watch games like Arc Raiders or Marvel Rivals, which have seen big upticks throughout 2025.

Valorant also lost some notable players this year, most notably Tyson “TenZ” Ngo, who was a significant contributor to Valorant’s viewership during his time competing before his retirement.

While he has still been playing Valorant in a large majority of his streams, it raises the question of whether his retirement has played a part.

While some viewers may have shifted to other platforms, such as YouTube, to watch their Valorant content, it’s unlikely that this would result in such a significant drop on Twitch.

That said, it is still in the top five most-viewed categories on the platform, so it’s hardly panic stations for the game right now.

No doubt Riot Games will be looking at ways to better engage their players and viewers in 2026, but what that looks like exactly remains to be seen.