Riot Games is likely one of the largest believers in free-to-play, however its strategy to Valorant microtransactions is somewhat completely different.
Valorant, Riot Games’ not too long ago revealed 5v5 tactical shooter, might be free-to-play identical to League of Legends and the remainder of the studio’s portfolio.
Riot confirmed to Polygon that Valorant will promote cosmetics for actual cash, however not by means of loot bins. The similar cosmetics is also unlocked by means of the Battle Pass. In common, the developer desires devoted gamers to earn cosmetics just by taking part in.
While Riot did affirm weapon skins and sprays for Valorant, it additionally revealed that character skins might not arrive for some time. Selling skins is a giant enterprise for League of Legends in addition to different free-to-play games, however Riot doesn’t wish to mess with the aggressive steadiness in Valorant.
While skins would solely ever change the look of characters, Riot is nervous about conditions the place it turns into tougher to establish characters whereas taking part in. All heroes in Valorant have the identical hitbox for an ultra-competitive, truthful taking part in discipline.
“I think [character skins] would have to be in a way that there’s absolutely nothing to impact the gameplay,” mentioned govt producer, Anna Donlon.
“It’ll be narrow. I think there’s a way to do that. And those are things that we’re interested in exploring.”
Valorant launches this summer time, with a beta deliberate within the subsequent couple of months.
