One of the questions that haunt most competitive shooter games — and especially free-to-play ones — is whether they have pay to win elements. Pay to win would be any mechanic or purchasable item that would allow a player to translate money into a competitive advantage. This question comes up so often because for so many titles out there it is quite valid. A large number of popular shooter games (even relatively high profile ones) have pay-to-win mechanics. In this article, we will answer the burning question of whether Valorant is pay-to-win in any way, including whether it has pay-to-win cosmetic skins.
Agents
Valorant has two main types of moving parts: Agents and weapons. Outside of picking their Agent and their guns, Valorant players have no fixed statistic way to influence the outcome of matches. Agents have different skillsets and strengths, and are all pretty well balanced. Plus, Riot deploys regular and painstakingly precise balance changes in an effort to keep the game’s power curve as flat as possible.
Players cannot buy Agents in Valorant, and instead, get access to new Agents through the Contract system. By continuously playing the same Agent, you can level up their Contract track to unlock some basic cosmetic rewards like titles and cards. When you complete the Contract, you can unlock another Agent. In this way, all Valorant players get access to all Agents by just playing the game, and there is no pay to win mechanic with Agents.
Gun skins
In high-skill, competitive gaming, the margin of victory could be so slim that a minute detail like a slightly wider ironsights could have a real impact. For that reason, first-person shooter players habitually scrutinize gun skins for perceived advantage. Apex Legends has a bit of a reputation for featuring weapon cosmetics that block a smaller portion of the screen when aiming compared to the base weapon skin, supposedly conveying a slight advantage in that way; notably, some skins go in the opposite direction, blocking half of your screen with a cool dragon design in what some would describe as pay-to-lose.
Valorant does not have this issue, as Riot’s dedication to competitive balance and clarity extends to the game’s vanity as well. None of the purchasable weapon skins in the game impact visual clarity in any meaningful way. Shooting in Valorant happens from the hip a lot of the time anyway, but even when aiming down sights with a fancy gun skin equipped you will not notice a difference. In other words, there are no pay to win gun skins in Valorant.
Agent skins
Another area of microtransactions where pay to win may emerge is character skins. In order to aim at someone you need to see them first, and for that reason first-person shooters have no shortage of pay to win skin controversies, like Call of Duty: Warzone’s infamous Roze skin, and Hunt: Showdown’s legendary mud ghost Cain. If players could purchase skins in Valorant that made their Agents blend in with the background better, that could be construed as a pay-to-win element.
However, presently players can’t purchase such skins, because Valorant doesn’t have any Agent skins. Riot has stated that for the sake of combat clarity all Agents need to be visually distinct at all times, and hence there are no Agent skins in the game. That could change in the future, but we don’t expect it to ever affect the competitive balance of the game. Valorant’s art style is intentionally vibrant and clear, and it’s hard to imagine an Agent skin that could do anything other than make them stand out even more against the backdrop.
In case it is not clear, the verdict is that Valorant is not a pay-to-win game. Valorant has no pay-to-win mechanics and no pay-to-win cosmetic skins. Whether you win or lose comes down to individual skill and preparation.
