It's no secret that VALORANT happened because Riot Games saw the need for a "better" version of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. But, as if having peaked its biggest competitor off the corner of its games, Riot went ahead and flicked what it's hoping would be a killshot for any hopes that former CS:GO players that are now in VALORANT may have.
The Black Market pack, which arrives on April 12, is a homage to Counter-Strike. It's Riot's way of telling VALORANT players, "don't worry, you can have CS:GO in VALORANT as well."
Unlike the typical VALORANT skin, the Black Market bundle comes with five transforming cosmetics that approximate their Counter-Strike equivalents as close as possible.
Case in point:
- The Vandal = AK-47
- The Bulldog = FAMAS
- The Marshal = Scout
- The Classic = Glock-18
- The Knife = Butterfly Knife
Even if Riot might end up denying the coincidence, it's clear that it wants VALORANT players to switch sides or stay.
Don't forget, Valve recently announced Counter-Strike 2 ahead of its release later this year.
As for the community reactions to the CS:GO skins in VALORANT, Tarik "Tarik" Celik, a former CS:GO pro who spent years in the competitive circuit before transitioning to content creation in VALORANT, called the bundle as "literally skin from CS".
If nothing else, the new bundle represents a potential change in Riot's plans going forward. After eschewing "simple" skins, VALORANT might get more "normal-looking" cosmetics if these end up selling well.
More importantly, the Black Market pack might be a sign that Riot has figured out how to let players swap out skins in the middle of a match. In the past, VALORANT developer, Sean Marino, explained on Reddit that VALORANT doesn't have such skins due to potential performance issues. However, this is the selling point of the Black Market bundle; the skin changes appearance when you're attacking or defending.
With that said, it'll be interesting to see what kind of content changes Riot will become more open to once Counter-Strike is out.
Speaking of Counter-Strike 2, Valve is warning the public about beta admissions scams. Finally, Counter-Strike 2 will also take advantage of an anti-lag technology like VALORANT.
