VALORANT players claim Riot Games has lost the battle to smurfs only because the developers wanted to. They’re convinced the devs don’t want to remove smurfs at all but would rather keep them to stimulate microtransactions.
Players believe Riot has been ignoring pleas for things like a mobile verification system as smurf-based content and skins contribute too much to sales. With Riot revealing how much it can make from a single bundle last year, it seems many players are convinced.
Riot made over $16 million with the VCT Champions 2022 bundle and with 80 different collections to purchase, players think Riot knows exactly what it’s doing. Players even started to notice similarities between other Riot titles via an Aug. 6 Reddit thread.
As it turns out, League has the same issue as VALORANT.
As players make smurf accounts, Riot benefits from the boosted player count and newly purchased skins, according to claims from some players.
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A portion of VALORANT gamers just wish Riot would “make it look like they’re trying” to stop the problem.
But the other side of the coin believes it’s a much harder puzzle to solve than once thought.
Games like Overwatch 2 and CS:GO have attempted to turn smurfs away with these tactics but to no avail. The change even resulted in backlash, leading to developers dropping the idea completely.
Others believe it “isn’t going to stop anyone” as a means to avoid the phone-based prevention method exist. This leaves the Riot developers combating problems with hole-covered solutions.
While Riot developers might struggle against smurfs, it’s safe to say several other competitive esports are in the same boat.
