Riot devs respond to Nadeshot's criticisms over new cheap Valorant skins

Ever since Valorant's release almost two years ago, the art team behind the skin collections Riot Games has pumped out has been raising the bar with almost every new entry. 

From Elderflame to Prime or Glitchpop, some bundles have already become a staple of the FPS, with almost an entire subculture of collectors sprawling as a result.  

Sometimes, though, the devs decide to cater to those who also like to click heads on style but are doing so on a budget. Considering the tactical shooter is free-to-play and doesn't demand a high-end PC, that's a lot of people. 

This may disappoint some of those that eagerly await and expect each new collection to come with all the premium bells and whistles Riot has accustomed us to. Finishers, kill banners, variants, you name it. 

One that voiced his sadness over the new Endeavour skin bundle lacking all of the aforementioned is none other than 100 Thieves owner Matt "Nadeshot" Haag. Devs didn't stay quiet this time.

Riot devs respond to critics of new cheap Endeavour skin bundle

After the new Endeavour Valorant set was leaked, Nadeshot took to Twitter to express dissatisfaction over the lack of visual refinements for the bundle.

"No disrespect to Riot and the design team, but I think I speak for everyone that if a bundle doesn’t come with alternate color ways and special effects, the bundle is already chalked. So much potential with this one, too," Nadeshot wrote via Twitter.

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Preeti Khanolkar. Producer for Premium Content at Valorant responded to the online comment by detailing that, by being such a small team, they need to prioritise between making top-of-the-line skins or accessible ones from time to time. 

We're not a very large cosmetics team (larger than our skeleton team in 2020, but still small compared to other games), so we try our best to make as much cool stuff for as many players as possible. Hopefully this gorgeous -but-modest skin is a win for players who want an SE.

— Preeti Khanolkar (@Preeti_Riot) March 23, 2022

Following Khanolkar's comments, Associate Art director Sean Marino posted a lengthy response to Nadeshot. In it, he reveals that as a small, passionate team, he'd like to see the conversation shift from "this bundle sucks to this skin has so much potential if..."

"There is no formula for how we make skins. It's not just slap a camo and call it a day, or select a simple color from a wheel. If it was that easy, every other game would be doing it, and I think Valorant sets itself apart from the industry by offering some of the best cosmetic content out there."

Nadeshot eventually responded, praising Riot's work on Valorant cosmetics, adding: "I’m a fan more than anything so I hope nothing I say is taken to heart."

As for us, the Endevaour seems like an incredible collection for its price, though we wouldn't have minded at least some cool colour variants. 

Featured image courtesy of Riot Games/100 Thieves.