Riot Games explain why Valorant won’t have skin trading

Riot Games has confirmed that skin trading will not be coming to Valorant.

Skin trading is a feature popularized in CS:GO, where valuable cosmetics obtained through cases can be traded between accounts, and thanks to the Steam marketplace, even have a real monetary value.

Valorant skins aren’t cheap either, with players having complained already about the cost of the some of the priciest camos and variants.

Speaking to Forbes, Riot’s revenue lead Joe Lee confirmed that skin trading will never a thing in Valorant, and it’s largely because the game also doesn’t feature loot boxes.

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Right now, the only way to acquire skins is with Valorant points, or unlock them in the Battle Pass, which both require spending real money.

“I think skin trading works in other game economies when the only method of acquiring content is through loot boxes. Drop rates and loot box supply can be tuned by the developer, which then impacts the supply and demand of the product.”

“We primarily support a direct purchase store model,” he added. “Meaning if you see something you want, we want you to be able to consider the product and purchase it as a known quantity: No randomness, no considerations for after-market speculation.”

“Skins in Valorant are designed to be meaningful representations of a player, whether they want to say ‘I was there,’ using an exclusive skin from an early battle pass, or they’ve managed to get a time-limited skin from the store,” Lee continued. “Having a secondary market introduces a lot of complexity around what a skin means in-game, and oftentimes just makes it about who has the most expensive one.”

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“For all of our offerings we want the value to be clear and apparent, and for players to feel the price tag we have placed on the item is reflective of the value they get for purchasing it,” the developer said.

“We’re always looking at feedback and welcoming of thoughts from our players, and are analyzing how to ensure we deliver the right value at the right price,” Lee ended. The top end skin bundles can set you back a pretty penny, but there are also, less shiny skins that are at a more conservative price point.

So, while complaining on Reddit about the latest $70 Valorant skin bundle might be cathartic, it doesn’t seem like Riot plans to change the way players are able to acquire skins anytime soon.