Riot Games has just made the ORA bundle for VALORANT available and the price is “fantastic”. You will have to pay 9900 Valorant Points for the whole package, which is approximately $100 in US currency. You are getting four weapon skins, each priced at 2475 VP, one melee for 4950 VP, and a ton of cosmetics like player card, spray, gun buddy, and a ‘Flex’ item for 1375 VP. This means you are spending a huge amount of virtual money just for the dashing and stylish skins.
What is the players’ reaction then? Well, we can say it’s… not very positive. In fact, to be honest, some players even went as far as saying that they are on the verge of losing their sanity. A player named Alejandro was able to describe the situation perfectly while talking about the Radianite upgrade system when he said: ‘The radianite is what doesn’t make me wanna buy, I’m alr behind in upgrades, you’re basically forced to spend an extra 200 to upgrade😂.’ It is that age-old strategy of Riot, to extract a large sum first and then come at you with the upgrading fees later. It seems to be pretty much the same, doesn’t it?
The price of the knife alone is giving a lot of people a shock. A user named esdeath | CEO of ESDEATH talked about it in comparison with daily life expenditures saying: ‘Disgusting price for the knife. 50€??! That’s a week’s groceries.’ The next user, martin🗡 quickly responded saying ‘that aint even a whole day at work lol.’ This shows the difference right there. It is all too easy for some; while others it is a hard financial decision. Evi was also very witty when she said, ‘Forget about those groceries, man; I will only be eating cup noodle’s until I get my next paycheck.’ The struggle is really real!
Nevertheless, the price is not the only cause of the uproar in the community. Another group of players has also raised concerns regarding the skins. Nelle pointed out a major disadvantage that they could not stand: ‘The flex reportedly can’t be heard and that was basically the tipping point for me.’ Just imagine! You have paid for an essential feature but it simply does not work. Such a huge oof! Another player Rizvee gave a slightly more tolerant view when he said, ‘The bullet sound is too much tbh. And the inspect animation is not continuous. Overall a good skin, but not what is was hyped to be in my opinion.’ So, even those who can afford to buy them are still wondering if it is just the hype or the product.
On top of that, we have the whole debacle of the upgrade variants. Whiffington sounded frustrated while, DocPouley clarified it by saying ‘All lvl 10 except the last for 25 damned.’ On the other hand, J0EI had a different perspective and said, ‘Tbf, paying an extra 15 for every variant when you would’ve paid 15 for one variant on other skins isn’t bad at all.’ It really comes down to the way you assess the value, I guess. But then, when you have already started at a price of $100, every little Radianite feels like having salt poured on an open wound.
Players from all corners of the globe are sharing the same pain. A player from France, Mo_kaa, talked about it in the following way: ‘Eh vasy j’vais finir SDF là riot, quand j’ai mon diplome ils sont obliger de me prendre en CDI minimum.’ For those who do not speak French, it means ‘Wow, I’m gonna end up homeless, Riot. When I get my diploma they’ll have to hire me on a permanent contract at minimum.’ The difficulty is universal. And another player from Brazil, Duee7💢, just said, ‘Esse valor desamina’ which means ‘This price is discouraging’. 10,000 VP is simply too much no matter where you are located.
Then, there are the realists like Liam Byrne who just said, ‘Buy some triple a yall. These are not and never worthy. Buy some games and change your life forever.’ Definitely, one can hardly refute that kind of logic. The price of this single bundle is enough to purchase at least a couple of full, gorgeous PlayStation and Xbox games that would provide you with dozens, maybe even hundreds of hours of entertainment. It really puts the whole microtransaction economy in its proper perspective, doesn’t it?
