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Live-service games like Valorant receive numerous updates over the course of a year. This might make it difficult for fans to keep track of everything that happened over such a long period. This is especially the case for titles that have a thriving esports scene. From January 2023 till now, Riot Games' character-based tactical shooter has seen several developments.
This article provides a comprehensive month-by-month breakdown of everything that happened in the game and its esports scene this year.
Valorant 2023 recap: January to April
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January
The year kicked off with the release of Lotus, the second three-site map in the game. It had several map-specific gimmicks, such as revolving doors, a silent drop, and a breakable door. Having been around for nearly a year, it has emerged as one of the most popular maps in the game that requires players to master complex strategies.
February
February marked the beginning of the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) 2023 season with LOCK//IN Sao Paulo. 32 teams from the three franchise leagues—Americas, EMEA, and Asia— and two invited teams from China showcased excellent gameplay over three weeks, where Fnatic won their first championship trophy.
March
Gekko, the first Agent to be released in 2023, came out at the start of Episode 6 Act 2, on March 7, 2023. This was the sixth Initiator Agent in Valorant. While he did not have the same level of impact that Skye, KAY/O, and Fade had upon release, his crew of Pokemon-like creatures won everyone's heart.
April
April marked the start of the Premier system and the release of the Radiant Entertainment System skin collection, which remains the most expensive cosmetic bundle in the game to date. Premier has also seen many iterations over 2023 and is set to achieve its goal of being the "path-to-pro" from 2024 onwards.
The end of March and the start of April also marked the beginning of the first year of the franchised system, with the three international leagues kicking off the round-robin system.
Valorant 2023 recap: May to August
May
May 28, 2023, marked the end of all three international leagues. Paper Rex defeated long-time rivals DRX to emerge as the winners of VCT 2023: Pacific. Team Liquid beat fan-favorites Fnatic to take the European title home. In the Americas League, LOUD defeated NRG Esports and were declared champions of the region.
June
June was a very eventful time for Valorant fans as the game introduced its fifth Sentinel Agent, Deadlock. Team Deathmatch went live, and the in-game currency system went through a substantial overhaul with the introduction of Kingdom Credits.
So far, Deadlock has not had any meaningful impact on the game's meta, whether at the professional level or among amateur players. Team Deathmatch has emerged as a popular game mode, with a new map being added to it.
Valorant Masters 2023 also took place in June in Tokyo, Japan. Once again, Fnatic dominated their opponents to win their second international trophy of the year.
July
July marked the release of Riot Games' character-based tactical shooter in China. The game was slightly altered for this regional release, with only 16 Agents, four Maps, and features like the replay system available to Chinese players at launch.
The month further marked the finale of the VCT Ascension tournaments across the three regions, with Bleed Esports coming out on top in the Pacific region, Gentle Mates winning the EMEA title, and The Guard finishing first in the Americas. These squads will be part of their respective international leagues in VCT 2024.
August
Valorant Champions 2023 took place in August in Los Angeles, USA. The 20-day-long tournament was won by Evil Geniuses, who stole the show at the grand final, defeating Paper Rex 3-1. Max "Demon1" Mazanov was declared the MVP of the tournament, and he even secured a nomination for the best player at the Game Awards 2023.
Sunset, the newest map in Valorant, was also released during this month. It is a simple map without gimmicks that pushes players to focus on aim and coordination.
Valorant 2023 recap: September to December
September
September saw the start of the China Evolution series organized by TJ Sports and Riot Games. These tournaments took place over three Acts, all three of which were won by EDward Gaming. Other than this, September was a relatively quiet month.
October
The end of October ushered in the final Agent-release of 2023. Iso, the China-based Duelist, brought some interesting new mechanics to the game, and it will be interesting to see how it impacts the meta going into the 2024 pro season.
November
The Game Changers Championship took place in 2023. This is the biggest tournament for women in the Valorant Champions 2023 circuit. This year's bout took place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where North America's Shopify Rebellion emerged victorious, taking down big names like G2 Gozen and Team Liquid Brazil.
December
The beginning of December saw the last major content update in Valorant before the beginning of Episode 8 in January 2024. Team Deathmatch got a new map called Drift. It is based in Thailand and features a unique zipline mechanic.
Overall, 2023 has been an eventful year for the game, and the feedback that the developer has received over the things that did not work out as well as one expected will only make the overall experience better in the upcoming years.
