The studio Riot Games has launched a new shooter called Valorant . The free access to the Closed Beta is not available as usual through Beta Keys, but through Twitch Drops. This turns Twitch into a sort of “Wild West,” as experts are now criticizing.
This was Riot Games’ plan: Anyone who wants to gain beta access to Valorant must watch a streamer on Twitch who has “Twitch Drops” enabled. The viewer’s account must be linked with Valorant. After that, it’s a matter of waiting and trusting one’s luck.
There is no real “beta key,” rather accounts are marked via Twitch Drops so that they are unlocked for Valorant. With a bit of luck and a lot of patience, the shooter fun will eventually begin.
Riot Games’ plan was to make Valorant a hit on Twitch and reward streamers who collaborate with them. Because only with them do you get the beta accesses.
The plan worked, but it came with 4 problems and side effects that are now being discussed. All of them somehow make Twitch dirtier.
These are the 4 problems of Twitch Drops for Valorant
This is the problem with eBay: Because keys are so sought after, people sell their accounts with beta access on eBay for sometimes absurdly high prices.
Riot responds by banning these purchased accounts. However, due to the high value on eBay, it is attractive for people to create new accounts, enable beta access for them, and then sell those accounts on eBay.
Anyone who is tempted to purchase here must pay for an actually “free access” and might be angry afterwards if they get banned.
This is the problem with view bots: The issue is related to eBay. People create bot accounts to “farm beta access,” which they then sell on eBay.
These view bots disturb the integrity of Twitch but provide streamers with additional advertising revenue. They further intensify the competition for Twitch Drops.
If bots grab many keys, there is less left for “honest players.”
@TwitchDE enjoy how “”” streamers “”” use it 🙂 pic.twitter.com/pETCmuy7dv
— Boggy43 (@boggy43) April 9, 2020
Streamers lie about having Twitch Drops active
This is the problem with streamers without drops: Streamers who do not have drops enabled simply claim in the title of their Twitch streams “Drops active” to get more viewers.
Apparently, some even ban anyone who addresses this. The case of Dr Disrespect became public – but there are said to be many other cases where streamers behave this way, including German Twitch streamers.
Only when you see this message do you know that Twitch Drops are really active:
This leads to frustration on Twitch when viewers realize that they have watched a stream for hours “for nothing” without a chance to receive a key.
Update (04/15/2020): At least on this issue, Riot has now responded. From now on, all streamers can give out Twitch Drops for Valorant.
Streamers send old replays as live content
This is the problem with streamers with drops: Even the streamers who offer Twitch Drops do not always act as integer as usual. Because they want to be “maximally long on-air” to benefit from the current boom and rake in as much ad money as possible, as Twitch streamer DrLupo explains.
They benefit from having their streams watched because people want beta access to Valorant.
Therefore, they broadcast replays of old streams, but do not mark them as replays, instead claiming to be live to attract viewers and thus earn more advertising revenue. Because so many view bots are watching, this is particularly lucrative.
So streamers pretend to be live while in reality only old recordings are running.
eSports expert Rod Breslau explains that Riot Games has created a “strange” situation. Now everyone is exploiting the system for broadcasting replays on Twitch.
One can see that Riot Games’ plan to make Valorant a hit on Twitch is working, but it brings along some unwanted side effects.
