It’s been a while since Valorant rolled out a heavy content update. This week, apart from Chamber, no other agents were affected in the patch update. The major part of the content is the release of the new Valorant Team Capsules. Teams from all over the globe now have custom bundles available for their fans. Let’s dive more into what these capsules are all about.
Team Capsules
All major teams from every region have been allotted a team capsule, which is now available in the in-game store. Each capsule contains a classic pistol skin, a gun buddy, and a player card. Priced at 2340 VP, each team will earn 50% of the skin revenue. This is a big move by Riot. Allowing teams to make money from their in-game store allows for an extra source of revenue. Previous revenue VCT exclusive bundles were shared equally among all the participating teams. This new format allows teams to tap into their fanbase directly and collect revenue depending on how big of a fanbase they have.
It’s finally good to see a positive move from Riot with regards to helping teams out. from content creators to professional players, teams like Sentinels have already invested heavily in Valorant. The org is rumored to be spending upwards of half a million USD every month on salaries. For almost any org, merchandise sales always account for the majority of revenue. With the option of selling digital merchandise in-game, the potential for an esports comeback is certainly possible now. The reigning Masters Champions, Evil Geniuses, were forced to sell the majority of their players because they were not able to keep up with the salaries. The overall expense for Valorant is significantly high compared to its rival title, Counter-Strike.
Teams from regions all over the world participate actively. Involvement, as opposed to how Counter-Strike tournaments function these days, now each and every team has a reason to perform and build on their existing fanbase. Team capsules were pretty unique for Counter-Strike, and I didn’t expect Valorant to have the same approach anytime soon. In Counter-Strike, you have to gamble on crate luck to get your favorite team’s skin. Fortunately, Valorant has fixed prices and can be purchased directly from the store.
Chamber Secretly Buffed
Amidst all these skin releases, Riot secretly managed to buff Chamber. Chamber’s ultimate ability, Tour De Force, now has a faster fire rate. The firing rate has increased from 0.7 to 0.9. His Headhunter ability is now cheaper, allowing for better economy decisions throughout the game. The price has decreased from 150 credits to 100 credits.
These changes do suggest that Riot considers Chamber weak in the meta right now. These might be the first of many Chamber changes that we might see throughout the year. Though Chamber was completely broken at one point in time, now the agent is considered boring and is not seen as frequently. Hopefully, these changes will now make Chamber a bit more viable in the present Valorant meta.
