Many shooter professionals are currently switching to the new hit Valorant . They see great potential in the game and apparently want to get involved as early as possible. A former Overwatch star has also switched and now claims he can earn more with Valorant.
Who is the star? It’s about Jay “Sinatraa” Won, who was named the best Overwatch player of the Overwatch League in 2019. In the league, he was under contract with San Francisco Shock, but was hardly used early on (2017) because he was still too young at that time.
In 2019, he won the Grand Finals of the Overwatch League with his team as well as the World Cup for the USA.
Sinatraa switched to Valorant back in May 2020. Blizzard was “disappointed” at the time but could understand the switch. One of the reasons was that he no longer enjoyed the mechanics of Overwatch.
Less salary, more earnings – how does that work?
This is what Sinatraa says about it: In an interview, Sinatraa mentioned that he would earn more in Valorant (via Forbes). However, his actual salary is lower.
I would say that the salary is lower in Valorant, but it is balanced out by the wonderful sponsors I receive, which I could not get in the OWL due to restrictions.
In the Overwatch League, teams buy players and contract them for a certain period. During this time, they must pay a fixed salary to the players.
For Sinatraa, that was reportedly $150,000 a year under a contract that his mother signed for him back then. However, the money was not the reason for the switch, but rather that he no longer enjoyed Overwatch.
That’s why this is so interesting: Valorant is still relatively young and the esports scene is still comparatively small. That big stars like Sinatraa are already deciding to switch means they apparently see great potential there.
Overwatch, however, has it tough in esports in 2020 anyway. In 2020, the Overwatch League is losing its key people and, as seen with Sinatraa, apparently also its players.
What does the future hold for Valorant? Valorant developer Riot already has experience with esports from League of Legends. This experience could help make the new shooter successful quickly. Even the best LoL team in Europe is investing in Valorant.
However, there are currently bigger problems. The ranked system, which is particularly important for competitive players and certainly for the professional scene, is not working as the players would like. One of the leading developers even admitted that currently no one is really responsible for it.
