On October 15th, 2022, Riot Games held its first-ever community event ‘The New Wave’ in India at Mahalakshmi’s Famous Cine Studio, Mumbai. To celebrate the arrival of the newest Agent in Valorant, prominent figures from the Indian Gaming Community were present. Varun ‘Harbor’ Batra is a controller agent who will be available to players worldwide on October 18th. The event was live-streamed on Penta Esport’s channel.
Valorant The New Wave Event in India
Indian fans were excited about the launch of Harbor and Riot Games did it in the best way possible. Big names across the Gaming, as well as the Entertainment Industry, were present at the event. The venue itself was impressive, with Harbor’s bike present at the center. Here is how the proceedings of the event were.
Hosts of the Event
Tanmay Bhat, Abish Mathew, Ocean Sharma, and Ranjit ‘Mambasr’ Patel were invited as hosts for this event. The presence of these well-known figures alone was exciting for the attendees.
Harbor in the Flesh
To celebrate the arrival of Harbor, the agent was cosplayed by none other than Ankit ‘V3nom’ Panth himself. V3nom has become a household name in the Indian Gaming Community with his family-friendly streams and his promotion of gaming as a career in India.
Interviews with the Riot Officials
To understand the idea behind Valorant’s first-ever Indian Agent, interviews were conducted with Ashish Gupta (India & Southeast Asia’s Marketing Lead at Riot Games) and Jen Loh (Head of Communications and Channels at APAC, Riot Games)
To answer how Riot Games is seeing the arrival of Harbor as an opportunity to connect with the Indian and Global Market, Jen Loh said,
“We have gone through 21 Agents and finally, we have one for India. So excited to be here to launch Harbor which is Valorant’s first Indian Agent. Harbor is a great way for us to connect with the Indian Gaming Community. We know that Indian Gamers are so passionate, they are among the world’s biggest communities. Harbor is our way to really reach out and connect with the players here directly. Riot, earlier this year, mentioned that they are expanding from Southeast Asia to the Asia Pacific. You can expect to see more and more activities for the Indian Market.”
Ashish Gupta provided some insight to the fans on the process behind Harbor’s creation. He said Italics – “We at Riot believe in authentic representation in order to create an agent. We hope everyone sees some reflection of themselves in Harbor. We worked with many Indian consultants who provided us with knowledge about Indian culture and traditions. Developers worked closely with our team in the Asia Pacific to ensure that the interpretations and representations hit the mark. We worked with Indian writers, including myself, to be deeply involved in shaping Harbor’s voice, demeanor, and use of Hindi.”
This was followed by a few words from Alexander Mistakidis (Character Designer), John Goscicki (Producer, Characters Team), and Ryan Clements (Sr. Narrative Writer) on Harbor’s development.
The Tempest Invitational Match
To showcase Harbor’s abilities, a showmatch was held between Team Alpha and Team Omega. These two teams consisted of well-known pro players and streamers from India.
Team Alpha
- Naman ‘Mortal’ Mathur – Killjoy
- Ankkita Chauhan – Fade
- Rohan ‘HydraFlick’ Ledwani – Raze
- Ganesh ‘SKRossi’ Gangadhar – Harbor
- Ujjwal ‘Techno Gamerz’ Chaurasia – Jett
Team Omega
- Rishab ‘Rakazone’ Karanwal – Breach
- Sabyasachi ‘Antidote’ Bose – Harbor
- Raj ‘Snax’ Verma – Omen
- Shagufta ‘Xyaa’ Iqbal – Killjoy
- Tanmay ‘Scout’ Singh – Jett
Team Omega won with a 13:9 score over Team Alpha. Antidote was the MVP for Team Omega while HydraFlick was the MVP for Team Alpha.
I Am The Raja Song Performance
The event concluded with a rocking performance by Tienas, Mangal Suvarnan, and ARB4, the lead artists behind Harbor’s theme song: I Am The Raja. They paid heed to the crowd’s “Once More” request and rocked the stage with their musical prowess.
GamesAdda is incredibly thankful to Riot Games for the opportunity to cover this iconic event and looking forward to more.
