Riot’s new FPS title Valorant has been called the “Overwatch killer” since details started coming out. But now Counter-Strike players are also starting to wonder if the similarities between their game and Valorant will also lead to a loss of players for them, too. Popular CSGO streamer Michael “shroud” Grzesiek is among them.
There are a lot of game elements Valorant has taken from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, including the look and feel of the maps, the format of a set number of short rounds, the goal of each round, and even the ability to buy weapons between each round. But is that enough to make hardcore CSGO fans, streamers, and pros switch to the more vibrant and ability-reliant title?
Since trying the closed beta, shroud has already said Valorant is easier to play than CSGO, despite the addition of agent abilities. Now, that seems to be one of the reasons that shroud sees Valorant becoming more popular than CSGO, which hasn’t had a lot of competition up until this point.
“Do I think Valorant will overtake CS? Probably. I just think it’s a much easier game to get into. It’s much more pleasing to the eye, a little more casual. Counter-Strike is a bit more hardcore,” shroud said.
Valve and CSGO prepare to fight back against Valorant
While shroud thinks this outcome is inevitable, he doesn’t believe CSGO will go down without a fight.
Right when Riot announced a closed beta for Valorant, Valve started “pumping out updates,” shroud noted. These updates include map improvements, spectator changes, long-awaited nerfs, and even a new warm-up game mode.
Then there’s also the rumors about the Source 2 engine being released this summer, which is coincidentally when Valorant is being officially released. Source 2 is a game engine in development by Valve, capable of rendering highly complex and detailed scenes with minimal drops in frame rate. shroud feels that if Source 2 does drop, CSGO would receive a major update that would keep fans hooked instead of losing them to Riot’s Counter-Strike-inspired FPS.
“Valve is so smart. Valve only does shit when they know they have to,” shroud said to his followers.
