The model of the new tactical shooter Valorant from LoL creator Riot seems to be successful – at least that is what the revenue figures say. The analysis site SuperData has announced that Valorant achieved the most successful Free2Play launch on PC ever.
How does Valorant stand? According to SuperData, Valorant had the “biggest launch for a Free2Play PC title ever,” which includes both revenue and player counts. It is said to be even larger than Apex Legends at that time – at least on PC, with consoles Apex is ahead again.
There are no concrete figures on this, however, Apex Legends made a whopping 92 million USD at launch and thus achieved the best launch month of any Free2Play game ever. However, most of that came from revenues on Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
SuperData also reports that Valorant has even surpassed the competitor Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, although it has a large audience, which apparently is increasingly migrating to Valorant.
Where do the numbers come from? SuperData are analysis specialists who regularly report on numbers related to games on PC, console, and mobile. Their data is generally reliable. Recently, the experts showed that LoL is as successful as it has been in 3 years.
Valorant – Thanks to skins for financial success?
This is the model of Valorant: Valorant is a Free2Play shooter with a cash shop that offers skins for weapons and level upgrades for purchase. Aside from the skins, all content can also be earned with enough time.
Where does the money come from? A large part of the money is likely generated through skins. These are relatively expensive. The cheapest start at around 8 €, and the most expensive were around 25 € at the launch of Valorant.
By now, there are even skins that cost 95 € and whose upgrades can hit up to 300 €. These are not even included in the release numbers, but they will likely ensure that revenue will increase even further. Because players seem willing to pay that money:
Additionally, players can unlock the various agents of Valorant through level jumps. This can also be done through playing, but it takes longer.
The agents are not necessary to win, and the starter agents are actually quite strong, when you take a look at the tier list of Valorant. Nevertheless, they play differently, and many players want to have “their” agent as quickly as possible.
Twitch hype drives player numbers
SuperData not only lists Valorant as extremely successful in terms of revenue, but also regarding player numbers. Again, no concrete figures are provided, but the reasons can be speculated upon quite well. Two reasons stand out:
- Former CS:GO players are longing for a new favorite game, and Valorant offers exactly that, due to its resemblance to Valve’s shooter.
- Riot ran an exceptionally effective Twitch campaign, in which a true battle for Twitch drops for Valorant has ignited.
The dataset used by SuperData is proprietary. These are not official numbers from the publishers. However, they are usually accurate and considered a benchmark that even experts rely on.
Riot seems to have hit a nerve with gamers with a game that a large number of players desire and a marketing effort that has created exactly the right hype. At least the numbers from SuperData justify the company – which has never made a shooter before…
