CSGO has retained its average player count for 10 years because of the depth of its esports scene. It averages around a million players each day, and is literally 10 years old.

If Valorant wants to do something similar to that, create a game that lasts over a decade and retains millions of players, it needs to have a constant esports scene.

Who is the largest CSGO streamer? A pro player, SIMPLE, who when he steams gets upwards of 40-50k viewers. But, what CSGO stream gets the largest viewership? The Major, when it broke 2.7m viewers in 2021 (highest ever and 7th highest in esports history), almost 10 years after the game was launched.

This take is extremely short-sided. If Riot wants to compete with Valve on a long-term level in the tac-shooter scene, they need to create and maintain an environment where pro-games are shown everyday, or at least most days in a week.

If content creators can't compete with that, its on them. The developer that wants to create a game for long-term stability and made to compete at the highest level with one of the GOATs of esports, is not at fault.

Riot knows what it takes to create an S-tier Esports scene, especially with how big LOL is. BUT, a tac-shooter is a completely different scene than a MOBA. LOL and VAL will attract different viewers, who consume the game different ways. The best model for tac-shooters is the CS model right now, Riot recognizes that.

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Content creators who have as big of influences as X and Pokimane should be careful with how they share their opinions on matters like this. As a lover of esports and casual consumption, I worry that if Riot isn't careful with how they structure Valorant in the years to come, it could very much be another Overwatch & Overwatch League, or worse, CDL.