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Valorant is a free-to-play first-person tactical hero shooter that has quickly proven to be hugely popular among players. So much so that it has rapidly become one of the most popular esports titles in the world.
Our coverage on jaxon.gg will bring the latest news in the game’s esports world, combined with updates on the newest skins, maps, and agents coming to Valorant. Not to mention the best Valorant guides you’ll find anywhere on the net.
Valorant has quickly grown into being one of the biggest and most popular multiplayer games on the planet. This free-to-play tactical shooter from Riot Games debuted in 2020, and in no time at all it had made its impact on the gaming world. But what is Valorant all about, and what has driven it to such heights of popularity?
Developer Riot Games has declared Valorant to be a tactical shooter. That’s a relatively new name for the particular subgenre of games to which Valorant belongs, but the subgenre itself really isn’t new at all.
Tactical shooters have their roots in Counter-Strike, a Half-Life mod released in 1999 that later became a full and independent game under the stewardship of competing developer Valve. The game was further iterated on with the releases of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, Counter-Strike: Source, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and later Counter-Strike 2.
Other games have been released in the subgenre outside of the Counter-Strike franchise, perhaps most notably including Rainbow Six Siege. But none had managed to capture the sort of audience that CS had. At least, until the release of Valorant.
Riot Games went directly to the source in order to ensure that its new game would hit the mark, hiring multiple developers who had specifically worked on the Counter-Strike series. Riot’s goal was to recreate the feel of CS, but with a markedly different presentation and a new set of gameplay elements.
The biggest gameplay change was the inclusion of agents, Valorant’s specialized characters who have their own unique abilities. While tactical shooters had previously kept each player’s character on a level playing field, games such as Valorant and Rainbow Six Siege offer additional variety by allowing players to customize their gameplay experience in this way. In theory, this makes for a deeper and more dynamic game.
At the same time, Riot focused on trying to preserve the tight first-person shooting action that had made Counter-Strike such a great success over the years. This precision leads to intense, decisive combat exchanges during each round of play. And while opinions will always diverge on each game released, there is general agreement that Riot hit the mark with Valorant.
Valorant is indeed free to play, though that doesn’t mean Riot Games can’t make any money from it. Riot creates revenues through Valorant by way of digital goods, including cosmetic items and additional options for in-game play.
Cosmetic options in Valorant are largely focused on weapon skins. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive established just how lucrative weapon skins can potentially be in a tactical shooter, and Riot has followed up on that expertly.
That’s no surprise, as Riot has plenty of experience in pushing free-to-play games to lucrative success with its history developing popular MOBA League of Legends. Like Valorant, League of Legends is a free-to-play game that relies largely on the sale of cosmetic skins that do not affect gameplay.
But while weapon skins are a major source of revenue for Riot Games, Valorant does offer other opportunities for monetization as well. The agents themselves must largely be purchased, and the quickest way by far of gaining access to every agent in the game is to purchase those agents with real-world currency.
That doesn’t make Valorant play-to-win, as the game’s free agents are perfectly capable of excelling. But it does mean that Valorant requires some spending in order to unlock the full potential experience of play.
Some players believe this gives high-paying players a competitive advantage, given that they will have more agents to choose from. There is something to be said for this, and it does provide more variety in the pool of resources from which players can choose. But it’s also quite clear that even with just a few agents at one’s disposal, players are perfectly capable of flexing their individual skills and getting the better of their opposition.
Riot Games has had plenty of success in promoting League of Legends through esports, and it was quick to bring that success over to Valorant as well. Esports has consistently proven to be an important part of Riot’s marketing efforts, and that’s no different when it comes to Valorant.
The Valorant Champions Tour, typically abbreviated as the VCT, has quickly become one of the biggest and most popular esports competitions running around the globe. The competition is divided between several major regions, each covering different groups of countries around the world.
The best teams from each region compete regularly at international events dotted throughout the calendar year. The biggest of these competitions is Valorant Champions, the game’s world championship that ends the competitive year for the game’s biggest leagues of play.
Valorant esports also includes dedicated women’s tournaments, which climax under the Game Changers brand, as well as a deep second-tier professional scene.
Players and teams can compete in the lower tiers of competitive Valorant play for the chance to move up the ranks and play at the game’s highest levels, whether that’s by way of individual players being signed by top franchise teams, or by way of independent teams pushing their way into top scene. The VCT provides select opportunities for this sort of vertical progression for full teams, though it’s by no means easy to achieve.
Moving forward, Valorant is likely to only grow even larger than it already has. Riot Games has deep pockets and is deeply invested in the success of Valorant, as the tactical shooter has proven quite popular with a younger audience than the aging crowd that is thought to power League of Legends, Riot’s other major success.
For Valorant, this means the creation of new agents and new maps that impact the gameplay experience, as well as plenty of new cosmetic items in the form of weapon skins and other items.
That means that players can feel secure in investing their time into Valorant, as Riot is very much motivated to keep the game rolling strong for many years to come.
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