Will Valorant steal the crown from CSGO as esports’ most competitive game

Dota 2, League of Legends, FIFA, and Overwatch are all popular and competitive esports, but no one can look past Counter-Strike as one of the top esports video game of all time. 

What started as a simple Half-Life mod ended up king of the esports industry. However, times are changing and the esports industry is not immune to it. New games are getting quite the attention, and Valorant is becoming the preferred tactical shooter among many players. 

In a short time, it skyrocketed in popularity, and became a popular choice among punters, too. Just check betting sites such as asiabet8888 and you’ll find an endless number of Valorant betting markets with fantastic odds, which serves to drive traffic towards these events as well.

Thanks to its incredible popularity, many are wondering if Valorant can steal the tactical crown from CSGO. While CSGO is certainly not a dead game, can it successfully fight off wave after wave of competent newcomers?

The second coming?

Many consider Valorant the second coming in tactical shooters. While there has long been competition from games such as Paladins and Rainbow 6, Valorant has siphoned away players at both the casual and professional level.

More and more players are joining the Valorant pro scene, and many of them are coming off CSGO, though there are also pros who have made the jump from Fortnite, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and Overwatch as well. While CSGO still wears the crown, many believe that it’s only a matter of time before Valorant claims it.

But why is the CSGO fanbase rushing to Valorant? 

Well, it’s a much easier game for starters. For those unaware, CSGO is one of the hardest games to play on a competitive or even decent level. It’s easy enough to have fun with friends, but things as basic as moving require intense practice in CSGO. 

By comparison, Valorant is not that hardcore. Plus, it’s much more colorful and fun and that seems to be more than enough for new players to join.

CSGO still has some tricks up its sleeve

To be honest, a bit of competition is always a good thing. CSGO was beginning to get stale after all those years, and Valve now has to work hard in order to keep up with Valorant and other shooters. It’s no coincidence that seasonal operations have been the norm since Valorant’s release.

But while operations are nice, the holy grail for CSGO fans remains the move to the Source 2 engine.

The highly coveted Valve engine was announced in 2015, and has only been used in a handful of games. Dota 2 showed that games can be comfortably ported from Source to Source 2, and Half-Life Alyx showed that it holds up as a modern game engine.

Sooner or later, CSGO will be getting a Source 2 overhaul. The only question is when.

It had better be a crazy ride when the game gets the Source 2 treatment, or else Valorant will surely aim at the king. And Valve had better be careful because Riot Games’ aim has historically been good enough that it won’t miss.