To celebrate the start of the 2026 Valorant season, Riot Games put out a new movie trailer. The title of the trailer is “Why We Fight Back,” and it gives the game’s story a darker tone. In the movie, some story elements and character interactions happen that had not been confirmed before.
Valorant agents Viper and Chamber are in some of the movie’s scenes. In one scene, the two characters are shown together in a private setting, hugging in bed. This moment shows that there is a story link between Viper and Chamber, at least in the context of the movie.
But it turns out that the sequence is not a simple retelling of events; instead, it is part of a vision or hallucination. In the trailer, Chamber is killed early on. Some of the images of him and Viper together are linked to how Viper feels after that event.
The story in the movie then moves on to a bigger fight. Viper takes her Omega team into battle against other agents’ alternate versions, including fights with their Alpha universe counterparts. There are a lot of intense fights in the combat sequences, like when Viper attacks Brimstone’s alternate version.
The movie also shows other Valorant lore elements, like agent fights that happen outside of the Viper–Chamber scenes. For instance, the Omega and Alpha versions of Sova fight each other, which shows the trailer’s theme of conflict between different universes.
Riot Games has been promoting the competitive side of Valorant for 2026, in addition to the movie release. The Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) season is about to start, with regional Kickoff events planned for January and February. On January 20, the EMEA 2026 Kickoff will start, and then other regional events will follow.
The 2026 VCT season will have a new triple-elimination format for Kickoff and more international competition. There are plans for events like the Masters in Santiago, Chile, and the Masters in London later this year. The Valorant Champions 2026 world championship will take place in Shanghai, China.
The movie and esports schedules together show that Valorant content and competitive play will be released at the same time for the 2026 season.
