Valorant: An E-Sport Game Amidst Pandemic
Did you ever think about the occurrence of a pandemic? Did you ever think about you not being able to go downstairs and play with your friends? I didn’t either. Social distancing has reduced the physical activities to bare minimum, and gaming provided an engaging distraction for people at home seeking social interaction.
Amidst the pandemic, the esport sector is thriving. All the traditional sport tournaments are on hold or even cancelled. IPL is a prime example of the same. As a result, everyone’s attention has been shifted towards these tournaments. Advancement in technology is another reason for the bloom. According to recent studies the global video game market is said to be worth 159 billion $ in 2020 which is almost four times the revenue earned by box office and three time the music industry revenue.
So what is Valorant exactly?
Valorant is a team-based 5v5 tactical-shooter game, developed and published by Riot games. What makes this game stand is the set of unique characters (also known as agents), that are designed based on several countries and cultures around the world. Agents have unique abilities, each requiring charges, as well as a unique ultimate ability that requires charging through kills, deaths, or spike actions. The attackers have to plant the spike and the defenders have to either prevent the spike from getting planted or defuse the spike before it explodes (45 secs after spike is planted) killing everyone in it’s vicinity.
The game has 5 modes:
- Unrated: This can also be called the “chill” mode. Gamers play this to practice new maps, agents and their different abilities. The first team to win 13 rounds are the champions. This match lasts for about 30–40 mins.
- Competitive: As the name suggests, this can be called the “serious” mode. This has a ranking system where the ranks start from iron and goes till radiant (iron being the lowest). People apply different strategies and combination of abilities in order to win rounds. The outcome of the match decides whether you rank-up or rank-down.
- Deathmatch: This is a place where gamers practice their aim. A set of 20 different agents all play together with only goal of killing the agent that they see. This way they can practice their aiming skills and warm-up for competitive matches. This goes on for about 5–7 minutes.
- Spike Rush: This is a short “unrated” concept. So, instead of 13 rounds, it has a best of 4 rounds.
- Custom: This mode is essentially to organize tournaments.
How does this game make profit?
The game is free to download. Now, you must be wondering how Riot Games might be earning from it. Riot games introduced a concept known Valorant Point(VP). It is the premium in-game currency for Valorant. VP can be acquired by purchasing them from the in-game store using real money. Now, why need VP at all? They have introduced some eye-catching Skins and Battle-pass. You need VP to buy them, and indirectly real money. Gamers invest thousands of rupees to buy variety of skins. Battle-pass is basically missions that you need to complete in-order to acquire a particular set of skins.
How do the players earn?
Professional gamers make a lot of money through their streams. Common streaming platforms are twitch.tv and YouTube. Other than this, players participate in tournaments which have good prize money.
Any downside in this game?
Firstly, Valorant is a real-time server based game. Any issues to the server can results in degrading gameplay. Common issues faced are packet loss and FPS drop. This can be a server side or a client side error.
Secondly, there is a lot of toxicity in lower ranking games (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Iron). Players are abusive and that creates a bad environment for people on both the sides. Riot has strict rules regarding any such violation resulting in account ban.
Lastly, anger becomes a big issue for some players in a team game. When you underperform, or you see your teammates underperform, you end up frustrated. This has become an issue in competitive games as well as grand tournaments which is unhealthy for gaming culture.
Ratings
Oleksandr Kostyliev (S1mple), a professional gamer said that the game is really interactive, with a lot of new combinations and skins. The concept is unique and the gameplay is much different than any other shooter games he has ever played. Some renowned gaming bloggers have said that the game is consistent and well-built. Anyone who fancies shooting games should try it.
Conclusion
Given the situation where chances are the virus is to stay for a while, we can expect the esports industry to continue its upward revenue growth trend. In short, we are looking at a post-pandemic gaming world with a steady flow of new competitions, titles, and publishers.
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