Riot Games will host a ‘Clutch Kitchen’ event in the UK to celebrate the Valorant console launch at Village Underground in London’s Shoreditch.
The free event will take place on August 14th 2024 and ‘celebrate Valorant’s cultural diversity with an elevated LAN party experience, accompanied by a small-bites tasting menu from a Valorant-inspired menu concept’, known as Clutch Kitchen.
It’s to mark today’s launch of Valorant on consoles, which comes following our recent report that Riot would be ‘investing heavily’ in the UK and Nordic market.
The game is now available to players in North America, Europe, Japan and Brazil on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5.
Riot said that since Valorant’s launch on PC in 2020, the team-based shooter has ‘celebrated cultures from around the world through its playable agent characters, each created with a specific real-world cultural background’.
Honouring this commitment, the Clutch Kitchen menu has been curated by chef and food author Nathaniel Smith, founder of The Grubworks Kitchen, and features 10 recipes influenced by the heritage of Valorant agents. Dishes range from British/Nigerian fusion to Mexican street staples and Asian delicacies.
“As we celebrate the launch of Valorant on console and welcome a whole new generation of players, what better way to showcase the diversity of the game and our community, than with a menu representing the various cultures our Agents hail from. And portioned perfectly for players to enjoy between rounds of a Valorant match.”
Richard Churchill, Riot Games
New research conducted by Riot Games in the UK found that people who regularly play games are more likely to be open to new cuisines, with 40% trying new dishes every week, compared to 17% of people that never play games.
Video games were also revealed to be a potential source of culinary inspiration, with 39% of UK gamers reporting that they have discovered new foods or recipes whilst playing.
This was from a survey of 2,004 UK residents conducted by 4media group during the week commencing July 22nd 2024.
Richard Churchill, Valorant Brand Manager for UK & Ireland, said: “For our players Valorant is more than just a game. No matter where they’re from in the world, our community is united by their love of play, competition, music, fashion, and culture.
“As we celebrate the launch of Valorant on console and welcome a whole new generation of players, what better way to showcase the diversity of the game and our community, than with a menu representing the various cultures our Agents hail from. And portioned perfectly for players to enjoy between rounds of a Valorant match.”
Attendees can experience the range of dishes while playing a Valorant match on an Xbox supported LAN setup or enjoy DJ sets from UK musician Maisi and members of Loud LDN, a collective of women and non-binary musicians based in London.
The news comes a couple of days after a new esports Valorant UK Circuit (VUKC) was announced.
Members of the public can secure a free ticket to the event now on the Eventbrite Valorant console London event page.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
