Which company publishes Valorant in mainland China?

Tencent Games publishes Valorant in mainland China. Riot Games develops Valorant, but Tencent handles the Chinese mainland release through its domestic publishing operation.

The game launched internationally in June 2020, yet mainland Chinese players had to wait for regulatory approval. China approved Valorant for publication in December 2022, and Tencent released the localized PC version on July 12, 2023. The delay was connected to China’s licensing process for imported online games, rather than to a different developer taking over the title.

A common mix-up is confusing ownership, development, and regional publishing. Tencent acquired Riot Games in stages, becoming its sole owner in 2015, but Riot remains the studio associated with Valorant’s development and global publishing. In mainland China, however, the publisher named in the question is Tencent Games. Bilibili, Perfect World, and NetEase are major Chinese game companies, but they are not the canonical answer for Valorant’s mainland PC release.