Riot Games has announced a new upscale weapon skin for VALORANT named Ayakashi Phantom. The announcement that was made through the widely known leak account ValorLeaks has ignited a lively conversation among the gaming community wherein opinions are largely split about the skin’s design and more importantly, its costly price tag in the store. This conversation reflects the continuous battles between gamers’ demands and the developers’ survival through monetization of cosmetic items.
Thus, the ValorLeaks account shared the image of the upcoming Ayakashi Phantom skin and asked for the players’ feedback. The floor opened up for responses that were already quite expressive of the general mood. It is like the public is unbelievably dividing into two groups: one is shouting ‘this is fire!!’ and the other is whining about the price just as loudly. But the price complaints are even coming from the first comments underneath the post. One player was first to comment saying it resembles the Nocturnal skin that is a very reasonable observation? Sometimes Riot is seen as having a “type” for dark and edgy themes. That said, just a bit down the thread and you will see nothing but complaints about the price.
One example is the user ‘domowens_’ who just came straight to the point asking, “Is it a done deal that these skins are overpriced?” To be honest?? That is what a lot of people are thinking. Another user called ‘Tony D’ expressed the issue with a considerable rant. He started with admitting their past skin purchases, then he said they were done after supporting the game for more than four Acts already. Then, he pointed out the unfairness of having to pay the same amount as a full game to get just one weapon skin. And I tell you I can sympathize with that. When the price of a bundle consisting of just three pieces is 7100 Valorant Points, that is… pretty much. User ‘Bill’ mentioned that it was outright crazy that the price of every good knife starts at $50 and even goes up. It is a conversation that is held every time there is a new bundle. It’s a routine now.
But wait, not everything is bad! The new skin did generate some very positive reactions from a few players. One of them was ‘JohnnySims’ who stated that the Ayakashi Phantom is probably the most liked one by him among all the recently released Phantoms. ‘Croissant’ even went so far as to mention the melee skin as one of the top three all-time greats, which is really high praise. ‘Honmaru’ even testified that the pro-player ‘wuzinho_VAL’ is totally in love with it. Thus, the design per se is attractive for a certain segment of the players. One user has characterized the aesthetic as “Oni but pricey and edgy,” which is indeed a witty description. The skin gives an impression very much inspired by the dark side of the Japanese folklore – and the very thing that attracts many players.
But the main question arises when you go a step further into the comments section. The discussion has to some extent blurred the line between product composition and price. User ‘rxyan’ triggered the debate when he said that the loot is good but the price is ridiculously high considering it is just for three guns. He suggested that the company could have made the Bandit skin part of the bundle to create a feeling of completeness. ‘david!’ made a similar observation saying that not using the Bandit instead of Ghost for the pistol skin was a major letdown. It is all about perceived value, you see? If you are charging a premium price for the bundle, then players want to feel that they are receiving a premium package.
Moreover, there has been the ever-classic ‘get a job’ comment. When ‘kristznzn’ made a light-hearted comment that he would wish if he were to get some VP from ValorLeaks to buy it, ‘SixMaxx’ retorted with “get a job and buy it.” There you go, the eternal gamer debate has been conveyed in two tweets. Some perceive it as a luxury item that is available only to the affluent, while others see it as a signal of a pricing strategy that is gradually becoming intolerably painful. User ‘Strafe Esports’ succinctly summarized the situation: “It looks nice, but yeah… hard to defend the price at this point.”
What is really intriguing is the players’ weariness feeling. It is not just about the skin in question but also about the pattern. User ‘Lu’ remarked that the same colors are always used. ‘GizemliQ’ pointed out the sounds are probably the same too. When the players get the feeling that they are being made to ride a roller-coaster of extremely expensive slight variations of the same thing, the thrill just disappears. They feel they are just given the same product with a different label. And for a game that thrives on players across platforms like PlayStation and Xbox, this can be a risky strategy.
