If you ask me (Editor’s note: NO), it’s about time we had a decent Counter Strike killer sweep the world and topple the empire established by Valve’s competitive shooter. Not that Counter Strike: Global Offense is bad, in fact I think it’s exceptionally good, but who among us does not enjoy a good ol’ story of revolution and triumph? While many may have suspected Counter Strike to fall victim to the boom in the battle royale genre, the game has still been chugging along better than ever thanks to people isolating themselves for fear of the coronavirus and needing something to keep them busy.
If anyone is able to challenge CS:GO’s dominance, Riot is the team to do it with Valorant, a shooter that looks like the lovechild of CS:GO and Overwatch. While both of those games are recognised as having some pretty crummy economies (the joys of knife gambling and loot boxes) Riot is determined to follow a cleaner path to profit.
Volarant is a free-to-play shooter that will incorporate microtransactions through cosmetic sales and a battle pass system. It’s become the standard means of monetisation in both free and paid for games and while people might not enjoy the grind of a battle pass system it’s certainly far more satisfying than straight up loot boxes. Anna Donlon, executive producer of Valorant, told Polygon that the game will feature several different progression systems, elaborating that the weapon skins will be upgradable in appearance.
While Valorant will launch with a range of weapon skins, Riot has confirmed that character skins will not be implemented when the game first launches, fearing that too much variation in the characters’ design might make them harder to pick out and counter effectively. “I think [character skins] would have to be in a way that there’s absolutely nothing to impact the gameplay,” said Donlon.
It’ll be narrow. I think there’s a way to do that. And those are things that we’re interested in exploring.
So maybe expect some flashy new skins a few months after everyone’s got to grips with how the game’s characters look.
Last Updated: March 6, 2020
MechMachine
March 6, 2020 at 11:11
A Battle-pass is not much better. It’s just removing the stigma. What we need is a firing squa……Actually… I don’t know.
Hammersteyn
March 6, 2020 at 12:08
battle passes enslaves you to grind and grind and grind and grind the same game over till you give up and buy the points you need to progress, because profit
Alien Emperor Trevor
March 6, 2020 at 11:11
Don’t celebrate. If the last few years have shown us anything it’s that monetisation schemes can get changed or added into games at a later date. All you can say is it won’t have loot boxes right now.