Pokimane Gave Her Hot Take on Valorant – And Boy, Is She on the Money

• Riot Games’ Valorant borrows elements from Counter-Strike and Overwatch.
• Valorant will balance personality and gameplay, something Overwatch has struggled to do.
• Will Valorant overtake Overwatch? Twitch streamer Pokimane thinks so. And she’s absolutely right.

Riot Games’ upcoming shooter, Valorant, teases a brilliant mixture of Counter-Strike’s tactical gaming with Overwatch’s personality and abilities. What’s not to like?

This League of Legends follow-up is a surefire hit, but can it actually overtake Blizzard’s baby?

Popular Twitch streamer Pokimane thinks so, and boy is she on the money (remarks start at 12:00):

Pokimane: Overwatch Is Already in Decline

As first reported by Dexerto, Pokimane revealed her thoughts about Valorant during a recent podcast.

She says it could be the “Overwatch Killer”:

 [When I think about] Overwatch’s decline, this is just going to be the last nail in the coffin really.

Months from Valorant’s summer release, she’s right that Overwatch has fallen even without Riot’s competition. As of February, the game wasn’t even in the top 10 viewed games on Twitch. It’s holding spot #19 as of this writing.

Then there’s Overwatch League’s decline. The pro scene’s opening weekend this year had an audience of just 63,505 viewers, down from 97,168 from the year before.

Valorant’s Widespread Appeal

At release, many praised Overwatch for its diverse cast and fleshed out characters. But fans slowly fell off as Blizzard’s new characters changed the meta-game.

These days, everyone plays the same roles if they want to win. In short, the game has grown stale.

Valorant’s “Agents” will have that same diverse personal appeal. Only it seems Riot Games will be much more careful with each gameplay addition. After all, the group’s past title, League of Legends, has hundreds of heroes – it’s not like they haven’t done this before.

The game mimics elements of Counter-Strike, which should work in its favor. Valve’s breakout competitive shooter still brings in millions of viewers. That’s because it has hardly changed.

Valorant’s similar foundation will bring in that same crowd. And it will do so with personality, something Counter-Strike’s characters lack.

Of course, this is all speculation. Overwatch can easily remain on the charts, especially with a sequel coming. But Pokimane is probably right, and Riot Games’ expertise is not something to overlook.

We’ll know for sure come summer.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.