Over the last week or so Riot Games’ competitive shooterValoranthas dominated Twitch. Developed as a cross betweenCounter-StrikeandOverwatch,Valorant has a lot of appeal both for the streaming scene and for viewers. But there is also a side ofValorantstreaming that needs correcting.
Valorant’s Unique Setup is Appealing
WhenValorantfirst debuted, there was a select group of streamers that hadDrops 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 theValorantdirectory, 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 heavyCounter-Strikeinspired setup allows content creators to show off their skill by winning rounds even when the odds are stacked against them.Valorantisn’t as fast-paced as other popular games on Twitch likeCall of Duty: Warzonebut it still lends itself well to shareable clips.
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The addition ofOverwatch-esque abilities makesValorantstand out a little more and helps create new strategies when trying to plant or defend. TraditionalCShas straightforward tactics when it comes to winning and ultimately it comes down to hitting shots. ButValorantthrows 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 theclosed beta very exclusiveand made Twitch drops the sole source of getting in on the action.
The Problem With Twitch Drops
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 theValorantlive 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 likeDr. Disrespect claiming that they had Twitch Dropsenabled even though Riot Games had not granted them the option. Only those that participated in a priorValorantevent 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 likeValorantcomes along and dominates Twitch, so everyone wanted to take advantage while they could. And quickly the top streams in theValorantdirectory 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 weekRiot Games gave every Twitch streamer the optionto 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, theValorantdirectory 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 againstTwitch’s Terms of Service.
There’s no question thatValorantis extremely popular and has aFortnitefeel 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.
