Riot Games has been fairly open about Valorant being a hybrid first-person shooter of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) and Overwatch. However, these inspirations nowhere mean that the developer wants to dismantle both games. Valorant will still offer unique experiences and what Riot Games is really looking forward to is to sustain a completely new first-person shooter player-base.
Speaking with PC Gamer for the latest issue, executive producer Anna Donlon categorically stated that Valorant has a different success criteria. Despite balancing CS:GO and Overwatch gameplay elements, Valorant will seek out players that are either still searching for their “shooter of choice” or have grown bored of the same games. In that regard, Riot Games knows that not everyone out there will be calling Valorant home.
There’s no wall in our workspace that says ‘demolish CS:GO’ or ‘take half of Overwatch’s players. Those aren’t our success criteria. I think there are a lot of players out there who haven’t found their shooter of choice yet. Or they find one they like for a while and bounce off of it. Maybe we’re for them. We’re definitely not going to be for everybody. We know that for sure.
Valorant will be a free-to-play game that utilizes microtransactions. However, the new offering from the League of Legends developer will not feature any loot boxes. Cosmetics like character and weapon skins, sprays, and possibly more that remains to be revealed, will all be available for purchase directly from an in-game store. Riot Games will not have players trying out their luck in Valorant by opening loot boxes after loot boxes for purely random results.
Valorant will also have seasonal battle passes, through which players will be able to earn cosmetics as well. In either case, players will be pushing their hard-earned money for what they set their eyes on.
Valorant, set to release in the summer, was previously known as Project A, one of many games in the works at Riot Games. The developer has Project F, a supposed World of Warcraft but reimagined as a World of Runeterra with an isometric perspective and hack-and-slash elements. Also Project L, a fighting game with characters from the League of Legends universe. You can go through everything that Riot Games is currently cooking here.
