VALORANT is getting esports skins

A few days ago, the podcast’s inaugural episode, The Wisemen, took place. This podcast is hosted by four well-known personalities, Rod “Slasher” Breslau, Spencer “Hiko” Martin, Joshua “steel” Nissan, and Sean Gares.

This podcast’s first episode discussed the VALORANT competitive scene during the Valorant Challengers Tour Open Qualifiers.

Special Guest

The four podcast members invited Leo Faria, Global Director of Valorant Esports, for this inaugural episode. This is with the mission to discuss the upcoming VCT event, the LOCK//IN, franchises, and many more details.

The hosts asked Faria about the sources of income for the 30 teams associated with the VCT, and he answered that the teams would receive three different sources of income to support themselves. The most important will be team skins and branded content from the organizations.

Information from leakers

The popular Twitter account, ValorLeaks, claims that team skins are on the way. Recall that this topic was first discussed last year when Riot announced the VCT. Since then, there hasn’t been any official information regarding these skins from Riot Games.

As we know, other major esports, such as Call of Duty, Halo, Overwatch, and CS:GO itself, include skins for organizations or franchises that have signed on as partner or franchise teams in their respective titles.

VCT team skins could be on the way, but how these will be incorporated into the game might not be how fans had imagined. Other games allow their players to choose which teams they want to support by selling skins individually.

However, according to ValorLeaks, the VCT skins will likely be variant-based rather than separate skin packs. This implies that players have one skin of some weapon and then can buy variants of the teams they prefer.

At the moment, radianite, which can be acquired through the battle pass or purchased outright, is used to unlock weapon versions.

These skins have been in high demand

In light of the hugely popular Champions skin packs, team skins have been highly sought after, but Riot Games has been reluctant to deliver. Faria did not provide a release date for these skins or what type of inclusion they would have.

However, he said there would be a guaranteed minimum amount of money tied to them. It also ensures that each team gets a fair share rather than it being a popularity contest.

In-game content revenue, which will most likely allude to upcoming editions of the Champions package, and flat-rate fees are the two remaining revenue streams to support the teams and skins.

As mentioned, this stuff is still a ways off, but with the LOCK/IN event scheduled in a few weeks, it won’t be long before the lobbies are filled with your favorite team’s content.

Header: Riot Games