Is VALORANT killing CS:GO?

Valorant is an awesome game, I think most people can agree on that. It was officially released in June and after five months of activity, its popularity and competitive scene is still flourishing. 

If you have not heard of Valorant, it would be extremely surprising, as the game has been hugely popular during 2020 and has provided countless hours of online entertainment during lockdown. But if you still do not know, here is a quick summary of the game.

Valorant is a first person shooter (FPS) that replicates the traditional game consisting of two teams of five, who must take turns in attempts to successfully plant and defuse a bomb. 

Either team may also eliminate each other by killing all the opposing members over the course of several attacking and defensive rounds. The style of gameplay is similar to that of CS:GO’s or the Search and Destroy mode in Call of Duty.

This planting/defusal game mode from CS takes a small twist in Valorant, where it is crossed between the high octane and fantastical theme of characters with unique abilities, that may be observed in Overwatch.

Naturally, many pro players, streamers and notable members of the gaming community have compared Valorant to the undisputed king of competitive FPS games, Counter Strike: Global Offensive. The comparisons were drawn between the two even before Valorant was released, and similar conversations have been ongoing ever since.

(Image Credit: Riot Games)

But the main question and one that is being explored today is, “is Valorant killing CS:GO?”, and if it is not currently, “will Valorant eventually kill CS:GO?”. We already posted a discussion piece on the reasons as to why so many pro FPS players were switching over to join the hype train of Valorant’s exciting scene.

In light of this, it should be noted that the majority of Valorant pros have come from other FPS titles, such as CS:GO and Overwatch, with some even making the move from Fortnite. The game that has seen the most amount of traffic of players switching games is CS:GO by far; currently, around 90% of pro players in the Valorant scene are ex CS/CS:GO pros.

There are many reasons for this and we did discuss them in a prior article, but in case you missed that piece, let’s summarise the main points. The first dates back to before June, when Valorant was still in its closed beta phase and was wholly dominating Twitch viewership, clocking in at over a million concurrent viewers almost every day.

There was a ton of hype around Riot Games’ fresh and exciting new tactical shooter and with a company like Riot behind the scenes, it is no surprise that the viewership stats for Valorant’s debut week on Twitch were gigantic.

Of course, the video game had been teased for quite some time (it’s first announcement was as “Project A” at the end of 2019), but little was known about Project A before an official name was revealed. Riot had only released snippets of gameplay but had carefully chosen a specific time to announce the news that they were in the process of developing a brand new game.

Riot Games is most commonly known for developing and publishing arguably the world’s most popular game right now, League of Legends. It is a MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) that has been a staple for the esports industry for almost 10 years, and with their special 10 year anniversary celebration last year was Project A initially announced.

Riot has made billions of dollars and has achieved such great success from one game, which is insane to think. League of Legends is so popular and has such a dedicated community of players and ecosystem that surrounds it, its 10 year anniversary celebration was tactically used by the company to propel Valorant’s revelation to the world, genius.

Aside from its sheer popularity, another reason as to why Valorant is so attractive to players is because of its modern adaptation of a favored classic. Valorant mimics the fundamentals from CS that have been adored by gamers for 20 years, and adds its unique twist.

The game features an array of characters known as Agents, who all have distinct characteristics, personalities and backgrounds. Each Agent comes from a different country and has corresponding voice lines to match different languages and accents. 

(Image Credit: Riot Games)

The maps have also been designed to be based in various locations in the world, the gameplay itself looks extremely friendly, which is ironic considering it is a tactical shooter, but upon comparison with CS, Valorant is more colourful, vibrant and ultimately, contemporary.

To players who have never reached their potential or who have never had the opportunity to experience the feeling of reaching the pinnacle of CS, Valorant offers a fresh scene and another chance to achieve the goals that were never accomplished during their careers whilst playing CS.

This is why you will find that whilst there are many respectable talents who are currently competing professionally in Valorant, there are a multitude of players who did not have massive reputations in CS before Valorant, who are now reaping the rewards of training so relentlessly at perfecting their tactical shooting skills.

If you have ever watched a competitive Valorant tournament, or have witnessed clips on streams, social media etc., it’s clear to see just how talented some of these pros are. Because of the similarities of CS and Valorant, pros have been able to successfully demonstrate the transferable nature of skills between the two, with attributes such as raw aim as a reliable in-game mechanic. 

However, Valorant is already well past its hype phase. This may be indicated from its average viewership numbers on Twitch. According to stats website Twitch Metrics, Valorant has sported an average number of around 53,000 viewers on Twitch for this month, making it the 11th most watched title on the live streaming platform.

Comparatively, CS:GO has sported an average number of 79,000 viewers, showing that the game is very much alive. These stats are for November and only time will tell if CS:GO will continue to maintain its relevance, but after 20 years of prevalence, it would just be disrespectful to label the game as “dead”. 

Most video games die after a few years and it is extremely rare to find games like CS or League of Legends that manage to sustain a playerbase, fanbase and functioning ecosystem for half a decade, nevermind a decade or two. 

There have been certain pro players who have expressed negative feeling towards CS’ relevance, such as Tarik “tarik” Celek, who currently plays for Evil Geniuses in NA, and ex CS:GO pro turned streamer, Michael “shroud” Grzesiek, who has been recorded saying the game is dead on more than one occasion. 

Having said all of this, I think a just deduction on the matter is that CS:GO may appear to be outdated by the new kid on the block, but as things currently stand, it is still as, if not more relevant than its competitor. 

Only time will tell if Valorant will supersede the Valve’s legendary title, but considering the impact that CS has had on the esports industry since its conception in 2000, Valorant will find itself having to fit into enormous shoes that may be left behind. 

Many believe that Riot’s tactical shooter has the potential to become one of the world’s biggest esports, but this won’t be for another few years, at least. Going on track record, Riot have already proved with League that they have the experience and tools that are required to hone a video game and mould it into a successful esport, as they have achieved with LoL.

If nothing else, I believe that this is a big advantage that Valorant has over CS. Historically, Valve has hosted some incredible events and is known for producing titles that have major, globally recognized tournaments, with the likes of The International for Dota 2 and countless competitions in CS, but Riot Games have simply executed it better.