The statistics can speak for themselves. With an average of 14 million players on PC every month – since its release in June 2020 – Riot Games’ Valorant has become one of the most popular FPS (first-person shooter) games that have taken the world by storm.
While much of the Valorant’s popularity can be attributed to the players hailing from North America and Western Europe, the Southeast Asian Region has also ranked as the game’s top region – with Philippines, alongside Hong Kong and Taiwan, emerging as the main drivers of Valorant’s popularity.
Despite the pandemic, which forced many internet cafes to close and prohibited many gamers from playing, Valorant still thrived thanks to live streaming platforms – like Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook – which provided virtual entertainment during lockdowns, gaining viewers across the world to over 8.2 billion hours (almost twice the figures from 2019 based on the reports from Streamlabs).
And what more other way to engage better Valorant’s Asian players than to have them represented in the game. Hence, the hype when Riot Games (also the developer of the team-based game League of Legends and creator of the crazy good animated series Arcane on Netflix) revealed that their newest agent, Neon, is a Filipina.
Here’s What You Have to Know About Valorant Agent 19, Neon
Coming from the country’s capital, Manila, Philippines, Valorant’s newest agent, Neon, is a feisty femme fatale known for her mobility and ability on engaging enemies head-on. She sports a cobalt blue hair, with yellow highlights, and uses electrical energy and lightning-fast speed to bring down those who go against her squad’s way.
Get to Know Valorant Agent Neon’s Cebuana Cosplayer
Few months before the official release of Valorant’s newest agent, Neon, the Cebuana cosplayer Charess (famously known as @charechii on Twitter) was contacted by one of the biggest gaming communities and creative collective in the country, RUMBLE ROYALE, for a project with Riot Games. Like many, Charess is also a huge fan of Riot Games and has even cosplayed the game’s other characters (including Viper, Seraphine, and Evelynn.
Much to her surprise, it was during such eventful meeting that Charess learned that she would be the first Filipina cosplayer to bring to life Valorant’s newest agent, Neon.
Proving how fitted she was for the role, Charess stunned the Riot Games community with her Neon cosplay – perfectly nailing those cobalt blue hair styled in twin tails matched with Neon’s cropped vest, leggings, and impressive props. The Cebuana credited the success of such endeavor to her team who passionately and accurately put together Neon’s costume – from styling to the overall production.
Aside from Charess’ epic cosplay of Neon, it is also worth noting that Neon’s Filipino background does end not there. Her voice actress is also another talented Filipina, Vanille Velasquez, who during an interview shared Neon’s other Filipino features like her ability to speak in Tagalog, practice of calling family members abroad, and bringing out the country’s tropical beach vibe in her room.
Of course, there’s so much more to learn about Valorant’s newest agent, Neon. Are you ready to begin Valorant’s Episode 4: Disruption?
