Valorant makes you watch before you play—that’ll change online games forever

Enlarge / Riot and Twitch have partnered for a first-of-its-kind game-test giveaway. Its success is a good sign that we'll see this gimmick happen again-and that is, surprisingly, good news. (credit: Riot / Sam Machkovech)

Why do I keep coming back to Valorant, a new online tactical-combat game from Riot? Most of my reasons can be found in my April 8 closed-beta impressions article, in which I break down the game's impressive twists on Counter-Strike.

In that article, I briefly pointed to one unique aspect of the game's closed beta state: how players actually get into this early test. You didn't sign up for a newsletter, enter a contest, or otherwise look for digital unlock keys. No, you had to watch other people play the game before you could join in.

I want to expand on this. Restricted access to early beta tests of games has been done for years but never like this-and Riot and Twitch's partnership is worth dissecting. Its success is a guarantee that we'll see other games attempt this trick again.

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