WHAT:             Pros, legends, and popular streamers from some of the biggest competitive gaming titles in the world including Fortnite, Counter-Strike and Apex Legends will battle it out in an eight-team tournament in VALORANT, Riot Games’ newest title that has taken the internet by storm since going into closed beta just last week.

Starting on Monday, April 20, players including Rainbow Six Siege reigning world champion Troy “Canadian” Jaroslawski, Counter-Strike world champion Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham and Fortnite World Cup runner-up Harrison “psalm” Chang will compete in the tournament, produced in part by Greenlit Content, live on the ESPN Esports Twitch channel.

WHEN:             Monday, April 20 through Wednesday, April 22, 3:30 p.m. ET each day

WHERE:          ESPN Esports Twitch

WHO:               Teams participating in the ESPN Esports VALORANT Invitational Powered by HyperX include:

• Team Mirage: Brax, Ska, AZK, n0thing, Hiko, Skadoodle
• Team Battlegrounds: Vegas, Venerated, Valliate, YaBoiDre, Sharky, 7Teen
• Team Llama: Psalm, thwifo, joseph, highsky, Xxi
• Team Six: Canadian, Rampy, Thinkingnade, Nvk, Necrox
• Team Canyon: Aceu, Dizzy, Mendo, Kellar, Syncdez
• Team Rift: Dyrus, Xmithie, Siphtur, Doublelift, Imaqtpie

For more information on the ESPN Esports VALORANT Invitational Powered by HyperX, please visit espn.com/esports.

-30-

About Esports at ESPN

ESPN has a long history of delivering live programming, coverage and content to esports fans. It televised and streamed the Overwatch League playoffs and Grand Finals alongside Disney XD in addition to televising the EA SPORTS Madden NFL 18 Championship Series with Disney XD. In 2019, ESPN Events hosted the first-ever Collegiate Esports Championship at Comicpalooza in Houston and also put on two owned and operated events featuring EA’s Apex Legends in conjunction with The ESPYS and X Games Minneapolis 2019. The network also delivered the Street Fighter V World Championship and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U from Evo 2017, as well as hosted the X Games Rocket League Invitational from X Games Minneapolis 2017, and the FIFA Ultimate Team Championship Series across ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN3. In 2016, ESPN2 aired the Capcom Cup 2016 Street Fighter V Final in December, the Street Fighter V World Championship in July, and the Madden NFL 16 Championship from EA Play in June. In addition, ESPN X Games teamed up with Xbox to bring Halo 5: Guardians to X Games Aspen 2016, as part of the Halo World Championship Tour.

Since 2016, ESPN.com has also delivered year-round coverage through a dedicated esports vertical featuring some of the most voices in esports. Previously, ESPN3 carried live coverage of BlizzCon and The International Dota 2 Championships in 2014 and 2015, as well as the 2014 League of Legends tournament. The network also previously delivered exclusive live coverage of Heroes of the Dorm in 2015 and 2016, with the final airing live on ESPN2, and the 2015 tournament being the first ever live, televised coverage of a collegiate esports event for ESPN.

About VALORANT

VALORANT is a competitive 5v5 character-based tactical shooter for the PC, currently in development at Riot Games. Set to launch around the globe for most regions in Summer 2020, VALORANT is a precise and lethal multiplayer game with high-fidelity gunplay, a diverse arsenal of guns, agents with unique abilities, and competitively tuned maps for thousands of hours of play.

VALORANT is a free-to-play game and optimized to perform on a wide variety of PC hardware, allowing for a global audience to compete. Demonstrated by the game’s best-in-class game server quality, global infrastructure, and proprietary anti-cheat technology, Riot Games is committed to preserving the core tenets of the tactical shooter genre and upholding the competitive integrity of the gameplay experience.

About Greenlit Content

Greenlit Content is composed of content experts that have spent decades in and around the gaming space in high level creative positions at companies like Riot Games, 2K Games, IGN, Nickelodeon, and more. Greenlit Content is the direct line between brands and the gaming audience. GLC’s custom content team cuts through the noise with video, social strategies and editorial that will resonate with the all-important gamer audience.

Greenlit Content is owned by ReKTGlobal, Inc., a global esports organization that bridges the gap between traditional sports and esports, providing solutions for the entire ecosystem. ReKTGlobal’s list of clients includes companies such as State Farm, Find Your Grind, NBC Sports and Madison Square Garden Networks. ReKTGlobal is also the parent company of professional esports organization, Rogue, and the London Royal Ravens.

About HyperX

HyperX is the gaming division of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the world’s largest independent memory manufacturer, with the goal of providing gamers, PC builders, PC, console and mobile power users with high-performance components. For 16 years, the HyperX mission has been to develop gaming products for all types of gamers – high-speed memory, solid state drives, headsets, keyboards, mice, charging accessories for console players, USB flash drives, and mousepads – to the gaming community and beyond. The award-winning HyperX brand is known for consistently delivering products that deliver superior comfort, aesthetics, performance, and reliability. HyperX gear is the choice of celebrity ambassadors, pro gamers, tech enthusiasts, and over-clockers worldwide because it meets the most stringent product specifications and is built with best-in-class components. HyperX has shipped over 65 million memory modules, 10 million gaming headsets and one million keyboards worldwide.

Join the global #HyperXFamily at facebook.com/hyperxcommunity, learn how HyperX products can enhance your console experience and boost performance for both you and your PC, console or mobile device at hyperxgaming.com. Whatever your skill level, whatever genres you play, we embrace all gaming enthusiasts everywhere with our core belief — We’re All Gamers.

Media Contacts:

Olivia Wilson, ESPN                                   [email protected]