Valorant reveals big plans in the new roadmap for 2023. Riot focuses entirely on esports and aims to displace big competitors like Rainbow Six Siege and Counter-Strike (CS:GO). This is expected to be possible thanks to the groundwork laid in League of Legends.
What is the status of Valorant?
- Valorant was released in June 2020 as a new tactical shooter aimed mainly at fans of Counter-Strike. Fans were sure back in 2020: This will be 10 times better than Overwatch.
- Over the years, Valorant has evolved, with Riot providing it with new content and heroes. In 2022, Valorant still counts as one of the best multiplayer shooters.
- Now, on April 28, Valorant reveals how it will progress in 2023 – shortly after introducing the new heroine Fade.
Esports as a goal and everyone should be able to participate
This is the roadmap: In the update for the coming year, Valorant creators Riot primarily speak of plans to strengthen esports. This is the big goal for next year. Various stops on the roadmap are planned:
- 3 new international leagues where teams from America, Europe, and Asia will compete against each other.
- The best teams qualify for the Masters and the “VALORANT Champions,” where the world champions will be crowned.
- New national leagues are intended to enable young talents to rise into the larger professional leagues.
Riot is already looking for sponsors and partners to finance and support the new leagues. The goal is to ensure that selected organizations do not charge any admission or participation fees to make esports more accessible.
What’s in it for players? Valorant will receive a new competitive game mode. This will complement the existing leaderboard and help teams recognize and recruit young talents early on.
Additionally, Riot plans to offer annual scholarships. The size of the financial support and who can qualify is still unknown. Whalen Rozelle, the Head of Esports Operations at Riot, says:
With Valorant, we aim to build not only an exciting esports but also ambitious, efficiently managed teams that can serve as role models for the industry. Thanks to our model with long-term partnerships, teams can advance their business alongside the overall growth of Valorant esports.
However, fans should have the opportunity to express their loyalty to their teams. More content is to come for this purpose. Additional information is still lacking, but it is conceivable that exclusive skins for the heroes will be introduced, similar to those in the Overwatch League.
LoL is supposed to help become the “world’s leading ego shooter esports”
This is the goal: According to a press release, Valorant aims to become the largest ego shooter in esports. This means that at least four major names must be surpassed, which according to the statistics page Esports Earnings have set a high bar:
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with over 132 million dollars in prize money so far
- Fortnite with over 112 million dollars in prize money so far
- Overwatch with over 33 million dollars in prize money so far
- Rainbow Six Siege with over 23 million dollars in prize money so far
Although these are cumulative prize pools over many years, individual tournaments have been awarded over 15 million dollars at their peak. On average, it is usually between 2 and 4 million dollars. The competition is therefore setting a high standard.
While Fortnite is not an “ego” shooter, it still falls into Valorant’s competition, similar to CoD: Warzone and PUBG. “Battle Royale” games, however, are in a different category than traditional shooters. Riot says, however, that they believe they can excel in this area with their experience.
How is this supposed to work? According to Riot, the experience of the past 10 years with League of Legends helps establish Valorant as an esport. Through LoL, the company has been able to connect better with teams, thus building partnerships and a real “ecosystem”.
Riot aims to excel through fair pay for players as well as through a “more robust support system.” Whether all of this will work for Valorant in 2023 remains to be seen.
The competition is already launching a new title. Blizzard is developing Overwatch 2, which is also expected to be released in 2023. We were able to play it already:
Overwatch 2 feels like an entirely new game, even though almost everything has remained the same
