Riot Games is well aware that players often compare Valorant to other popular shooters like CS:GO and Overwatch. However, the team believes these comparisons only scratch the surface of what Valorant has become.
Valorant has been available on PC for four years, offering a mix of tactical shooter action and hero shooter elements through its unique Agents and their abilities. This description might make it seem like a middle ground between Blizzard and Valve's games. In an interview with GamesRadar+, Riot Games' director of production and product lead for Valorant, Arnar Hrafn Gylfason, acknowledges that such comparisons are common.
Gylfason finds it an easy correlation to draw because Valorant features heroes and it's a tactical shooter. However, he dislikes using this comparison for several reasons.
He feels that it is a surface-level observation, emphasizing that Valorant has its unique flavor and identity. Comparing it to other games does not do justice to either those games or to what Valorant has evolved into. The focus should be on the player motivations and the type of gameplay experience Valorant offers, which is more nuanced.
In the same interview, Gylfason mentions that Riot does not think of Valorant as a hero shooter. This perspective contributes to the developer's confidence in releasing the FPS on consoles now, despite the increasingly crowded genre. He believes Valorant caters to different needs and player motivations, fulfilling a different niche compared to other hero action shooters. Hence, there's room for all these games to coexist.
Exciting news for console players: Valorant is now available on Xbox Series X/S and PS5, just one week after its open beta. Riot Games expresses enthusiasm in welcoming this new audience.