Picture Credit: Twitter
VALORANT bagged the best esports game in 2022, while Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker was awarded the best esports athlete of the year award during The Games Awards, which took place on December 8 in Los Angeles.
In just two years, VALORANT has got immense popularity among esports athletes as it provides world-class competitive circuit. Riot has done spectacular work by providing a lot of support towards women and marginalized genders via the VCT Game Changers Circuit, arguably the best circuit for women and marginalized genders in any esports. Other nominees in the category were Counterstrike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, League of Legends and Rocket League. Meanwhile, Jaccob's yay' Whiteaker has established himself as the best VALORANT player in the world this year.
The talented esports athlete also won Masters: Reykjavik with OpTic Gaming. Notably, 'Yay' had the best K/D at Masters: Reykjavik and VALORANT Champions and was top five at Masters: Copenhagen. Jeong "Chovy" Ji-hoon (Gen.G, LoL), Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok (T1, LoL), Finn "karrigan" Andersen (FaZe Clan, CS: GO), and Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev (Natus Vincere, CS: GO) were the other nominees in the category.
LOUD was the winners of VALORANT Champions, the season-ending championship event for the 2022 VALORANT Champions Tour. They also were the runners-up at Masters: Reykjavik earlier this year. The Brazilian team became the first team outside North America and Europe to win one of the six international VCT events in 2021 and 2022. DarkZero Esports (Apex Legends), FaZe Clan (CS: GO), Gen.G (League of Legends), and LA Thieves (Call of Duty) were the other few nominees in the category.
Meanwhile, Matheus' bzkA' Tarasconi bagged the 'Best Esports Coach' of the year award, while the 2022 League of Legends World Championship was termed as the Best Esports Event. Notably, Matheus "bzkA" Tarasconi led his team to victory at the biggest VALORANT tournament of the year: Champions. BzkA also guided LOUD through a challenging period in the middle of the year. After being runners-up at Masters: Reykjavík, LOUD were one of the first teams eliminated at Masters: Copenhagen.
There were questions about whether the team would fall off, but LOUD persevered, likely due in part to bzkA's guidance. He is now the coach of MIBR. League of Legends World Championship was remarkable on many levels as it lasted over a month, from late September to early November. The event took place across two countries and four cities in Mexico City, New York City, Atlanta and San Francisco.
The final event attracted tens of thousands of fans and reached over 5 million viewers, the most ever for Worlds. The team that won, DRX, had an incredible Cinderella run throughout the tournament and beat T1 and Faker - the most legendary team and player in the game. Worlds 2022 was a treat for esports fans and even got the attention of media outlets that don't normally cover esports.