Veteran streamer Jaryd ‘Summit1g’ Lazar has shared his concerns about the watchability of Valorant as Riot Games’ new FPS continues to dominate on Twitch.
With nearly a decade of streaming on Twitch under his blet, Summit1g is uniquely qualified to comment on games that may not be as watchable as others. His versatility as a variety broadcaster and natural gaming talent led him to being crowned as our streamer of the 2010s.
Now, Summit has cast doubt on the watchability of Valorant, just days after he hit 200,000 concurrent viewers as a result of the beta drops that reward Twitch viewing.
On April 17, during a bit of down-time with his viewers, summit began to explain his concerns about how much enjoyment audiences will get from Valorant.
“I think the abilities are going to be its [Valorant’s] undoing,” the former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player said. “If I’m being 100% honest, I think from a viewer’s perspective – I was thinking about while playing… it’s very slow and bland and [has] these stupid and boring chokepoints.”
Despite viewers currently flocking to Valorant, summit indicated that he thinks this will dry up as the FPS ages, and the hype wears off.
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“It’s like checkpoint mid? Put a smoke down, put a smoke down,” he continued. “Put a smoke down. And then it’s like one big hit, kinda like Overwatch. I’ve also realised there’s not a lot of crazy cool moments where you’re watching somebody and getting hype about him getting a 3k… I just don’t know if it’s gonna be as competitively fun to watch for a viewer.”
Summit’s concerns may be new to Valorant, but similar issues have arisen in the past with different titles. For example, there have long been questions around the viability of competitive Fortnite, with many arguing the generally defensive play styles to do not translate to entertaining viewing.
A lot will probably depend on how willing Riot are to make changes their existing formula, as well as how they respond to wider community feedback as more players get their hands on it.