Valorant’s Unique Setup is Appealing
When Valorant first debuted, there was a select group of streamers that had Drops enabled on Twitch. Just by watching one of these streamers and linking their Riot Games account with their Twitch account, viewers had a chance of winning a Valorant closed beta key. In theory, this was a great idea for generating long-term viewership in the Valorant directory, and it definitely boosted a lot of streamers’ numbers, but there was a more nefarious side to it as well.
Valorant’s appeal rests in a couple of different areas, and it feels built for the Twitch audience. For example, a heavy Counter-Strike inspired setup allows content creators to show off their skill by winning rounds even when the odds are stacked against them. Valorant isn’t as fast-paced as other popular games on Twitch like Call of Duty: Warzone but it still lends itself well to shareable clips.
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The addition of Overwatch-esque abilities makes Valorant stand out a little more and helps create new strategies when trying to plant or defend. Traditional CS has straightforward tactics when it comes to winning and ultimately it comes down to hitting shots. But Valorant throws a ton of new strategies into the mix through the use of area denial, smoke screens, and some unique movement options. All of that packaged together makes for a product that many gamers are eager to try, but Riot Games has kept the closed beta very exclusive and made Twitch drops the sole source of getting in on the action.
The Problem With Twitch Drops
Because many gamers were so desperate for keys and only a small group of Twitch streamers had Drops, some of those broadcasters tried to take advantage. They would keep their stream going all day long and just run clips of old matches while they were away doing chores or sleeping. Many of these streams never lost a beat when the broadcaster went away, and so they continued to earn ad revenue and even some subscribers and tips. It didn’t take long for streamers like Dr. Lupo to notice:
The problem is that these streamers did not use Twitch’s Rerun feature, which correctly labels a stream as a VOD replay. In essence, these people still appeared live and they took a place in the Valorant live directory, pushing other streamers further down the list despite their streams featuring live gameplay.
There was also an added element early on of top streamers like Dr. Disrespect claiming that they had Twitch Drops enabled even though Riot Games had not granted them the option. Only those that participated in a prior Valorant event were to have Drops, but some found that they could gain just as many viewers by suggesting they had Drops, even if they didn’t. It was a smaller issue overall, though, and has not been as heavily criticized as the VOD replays.
VOD Replays in the Valorant Directory
As expected, many streamers caught onto this practice and followed suit. It’s rare that a game like Valorant comes along and dominates Twitch, so everyone wanted to take advantage while they could. And quickly the top streams in the Valorant directory were actually pre-recorded. 30,000 people (or more) were watching old footage in the hopes of securing a beta key.
Most figured that the Twitch Drops feature was to blame for the use of pre-recorded gameplay and hoped things would change once it ended or Riot Games unlocked the feature for everyone. But earlier this week Riot Games gave every Twitch streamer the option to allow drops and the VOD streams continue.
As of this writing, there is a stream with over 100,000 viewers that is labeled VOD Highlight Reel and the next stream down has about half those viewers. That streamer tries to play it off with the title “This stream is actually live,” but that doesn’t seem to matter to viewers.
Eventually, Twitch might step in but for now, the Valorant directory feels like the Wild West The nature of streaming has typically been about community and sharing the love, but this feels a lot more cutthroat. Broadcasters see an opportunity and take advantage, regardless of if it is against Twitch’s Terms of Service.
There’s no question that Valorant is extremely popular and has a Fortnite feel to it when it comes to Twitch numbers, but it also has led to a lot of abuse of the platform’s systems. Hopefully, soon Twitch viewers won’t have to try and discern which streams are actually live and which are hoping no one notices.
Valorant is in closed beta for PC.
