Pokimane: ''I think [Valorant] might be the Overwatch Killer''

In a recent episode of the OfflineTV podcast, hosts Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys, William "scarra" Li, Jeremy “DisguisedToast” Wang together with guest Ali "Myth" Kabbani discussed the hype around upcoming multiplayer tactical FPS VALORANT and how it might steal Overwatch the show. Pokimane went as far as to say that it “might be the Overwatch killer.”

Comparing it to other shooters with ability systems like Overwatch, Scarra shared his thoughts that he felt the greater carry potential by a single player in VALORANT may help groups of friends to enjoy playing with each other more. “You can also hard carry your friends” the former pro player turned streamer argued, adding that “I feel like that’s not true for a lot of team-based games right now like Overwatch.”

The statement led popular streamer Pokimane to go a step further. “I think it might be the Overwatch killer.” to which Scarra responded “You think there needs to be a game for that to happen?”, jokingly addressing the perceived decline in excitement around Blizzard Entertainment’s game. “Yeah, Overwatch is kind of in the dumpster right now”, Fortnite superstar Myth agreed. “When I think [...] about Overwatch’s decline this is just going to be the last nail in the coffin,” Pokimane elaborated. 

DisguisedToast joined the conversation, explaining that he felt that the Overwatch League had a botched their approach with their city-based system. “Overwatch kinda just ruined their competitive league [...] just how it’s set up. You have to fly to places to play?”, the Facebook streamer stated, referring to Overwatch’s system of homestands, in which 20 teams from 19 different cities around the world host at least two tournaments each season in their respective home market, which subsequently requires teams to fly all over the world to compete.

The streamer that became popular through Hearthstone and League of Legends even went a step further, suggesting that Overwatch League allegedly “inflate their numbers and then sell it to sponsors. And then the sponsors are like: “Something is not adding up!”” referring to Overwatch League’s reported 90 million dollar deal for season 1 and 2 with Twitch and the alleged short end of the stick that the streaming giant had supposedly drawn.

The free-to-play shooter VALORANT is projected to come out this year, with Overwatch’s sequel Overwatch 2 also expected closer to Christmas. While the games show significant differences, it is speculated that VALORANT could take a considerable chunk of the player base away from Blizzard’s flagship title.

Image courtesy of OfflineTV.