Riot Games, the developer and publisher behind the wildly popular League of Legends, has finally confirmed South African VALORANT servers – something players have been waiting years for. The servers will go live on 31 August 2023, and will offer improved latency and performance for the region. This is a result of Riot Games’ partnership with Carry1st, a leading publisher of games and digital content in Africa.
Carry1st will provide interactive experiences for fans of VALORANT in South Africa, starting with Comic Con Africa from 22-25 September 2023 in Johannesburg. Players can visit the VALORANT booth to learn about the game, join tournaments, win exclusive giveaways, and more. Carry1st will also run campaigns to engage with players across various cities, all in celebration of South African VALORANT servers finally going online.
“We’re excited to partner with Riot Games to scale the reach of VALORANT in South Africa”, said Carry1st CEO, Cordel Robbin-Coker. “With the introduction of local servers, African gamers can enjoy their gameplay experience on par with players around the world”.
“Serving our global playerbase is a top priority for us at Riot, and this partnership with Carry1st will make meaningful improvements in bringing African players a first-class VALORANT experience”, said Hasan Colakoglu, Head of International at Riot Games. “Carry1st has great local publishing expertise and resources, and we’re excited to deepen our relationship with a company we’ve believed in for quite some time and helped support as part of our Underrepresented Founders program.”
The local launch of South African VALORANT servers comes at an exciting time for fans of the game, which is currently enjoying its third world championship, VALORANT Champions 2023. The event features the best teams from around the world competing live in Los Angeles for a record $2.25-million prize pool. Here’s hoping this launch will assist with local players joining future competitions as well as paving the way forward for other games to get servers in the region.
Owner, founder and editor-in-chief at Vamers, Hans has a vested interest in geek culture and the interactive entertainment industry. With a Masters degree in Communications and Ludology, he is well read and versed in matters relating to video games and communication media, among many other topics of interest.