VALORANT Chuseok Event

A holiday-limited in-game event held annually on the Korean server by Riot Games' FPS game VALORANT to mark Chuseok.

VALORANT Chuseok Event

Overview

The VALORANT Chuseok Event is holiday-limited content held mainly on the Korean server around Hangawi (한가위), the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, each year in the first-person tactical shooter game VALORANT (발로란트), published by Riot Games (라이엇 게임즈). Because it is rare for VALORANT, a game operated simultaneously worldwide, to foreground a specific country's holiday, the Chuseok event is cited as a representative example of a region-specific promotion aimed at the Korean user community. It is typical for access rewards, missions, limited cards, sprays, player cards, and other cosmetic elements to be granted for as short as one week or as long as two to three weeks.

Main Content

Event Background and Operation

Since its official release in 2020, VALORANT has operated a dedicated server in Korea, and Korea is classified as a major revenue region along with North America and China. Accordingly, Riot Games Korea regularized 'holiday login events' for major holidays such as Seollal and Chuseok. The operation method is generally as follows.

Limited-time login rewards: If players log in for a specified number of days during the event period, crowns, sprays, player cards, titles, etc. are granted sequentially.
Mission-type rewards: Designed for low-pressure participation with everyday conditions such as 'Play 3 games' or 'Plant the Spike 5 times.'
Community-linked events: Giveaways via official SNS, Discord, and YouTube, streamer collaboration broadcasts, and hanbok-concept fan art contests are held alongside.
Store promotions: Discounted bundles or resales of specific skin lines limited to the Chuseok holiday period are sometimes attached.

Representative Rewards and Content

Chuseok event rewards tend to focus on account cosmetic elements rather than weapon skins that directly affect gameplay. Representative examples include player cards and sprays using motifs such as the full moon, songpyeon, hanbok, magpies, and traditional patterns; titles containing the phrase 'Hangawi'; and Chuseok-limited emotes. Most of these items are not resold, giving them high value as collectibles, and because they cannot be obtained after the event ends, new users sometimes express regret.

Korean Server–Specific Elements

VALORANT's Chuseok event is often not applied equally to the global client but granted only to Korean server accounts. Because of this, among Korean users living abroad and foreign users active on the Korean server, opposing evaluations coexist: arguments about 'regional discrimination' and praise as 'a good example of regional specialization.' Riot Games usually posts holiday greetings on its official Korean-language channels, and also posts a notice that customer service operating hours are shortened during the Chuseok holiday period.

Latest Trends

As of 2024–2025, VALORANT's holiday events are shifting weight from 'reward-centered' to 'experience-centered.' Unlike the early days when only simple login rewards were given, recently the trend combines ① opening limited-time game modes during the holiday period (e.g., modified Spike Rush rules), ② broadcasts of charity and friendly matches featuring streamers and professional players, and ③ spread of meme and short-form content led by the fan community. Also, as Korean teams have consistently advanced to the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) Pacific League since 2023, cases in which holiday events are operated together with esports cheering events have increased. In addition, as Riot Games' other titles, League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics (TFT), hold Chuseok events at the same time, the character as an integrated holiday promotion at the company level is also strengthening. However, regarding the method of combining in-game chance-based elements (skin bundles, Night Market) with holiday events, controversy over inducing spending is sometimes raised among users, and this is an issue that repeats every year during the event season.