Valorant Art Director Sean Marino has responded to 100 Thieves owner Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag’s criticism with the recently leaked Endeavour skin bundle.
Skins and cosmetics are a great way to show off one’s style and personality. Fortunately, since Valorant’s release in June 2020, the devs have released hundreds of skins that’ll make you and your loadout stand out amongst the crowd.
Riot has always had a pretty good track record when it comes to creating cosmetics, and it’s no different in Valorant, with the widely popular Elderflame and Protocol bundles being some of the game’s most coveted skins.
However, some amid the title’s community believe that recently released skins haven’t exactly hit the mark, demanding that the devs add a community voting feature. Now, following images of the upcoming Endeavour bundle, Riot Games art director Sean Marino has responded to the criticism.
Nadeshot disappointed with Valorant Endeavour bundle
Following leaks about an all-new ‘Endeavour’ skin bundle, it appears that the skins don’t feature any variants, levels, or finishers.
Disappointed, popular content creator and 100 Thieves owner Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag hit out on Twitter with concerns on March 22.
“No disrespect to Riot and the design team, but I think I speak for everyone that if a bundle doesn’t come with alternate colorways and special effects, the bundle is already chalked,” said Nadeshot. “So much potential with this one, too,” he added.
No disrespect to Riot and the design team, but I think I speak for everyone that if a bundle doesn’t come with alternate color ways and special effects, the bundle is already chalked. So much potential with this one, too. https://t.co/tadDe8gRmf
— 100T Nadeshot (@Nadeshot) March 23, 2022
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A few days after Nadeshot’s tweet, Sean Mario, Associate Art Director for Valorant, hit back with a lengthy response detailing the difficult process of making new cosmetics.
“Our team is incredibly passionate and pours their heart into every we do, be it ‘top tier’ or not,” said the Art Director. “We’ve seen players left a bit unsatisfied when a skin line that really resonates with them falls short with regard to features, effects, and variants. Imagine for a second how much it pains us as both developers and players to release something we know could be more.”
Sean Mario continued by explaining how putting all efforts into every project causes burnout and slows the process: “If we poured 150% into everything, the team would burn out, the skins would take a lot longer to release and everything would be insanely expensive. Nobody wins in that world.”
I had to sit on this for a bit. I really wanted to respond, and needed to find the right way to do it. No way I could fit this within the 280 limit so please excuse the image. https://t.co/zWuxZRmwO2 pic.twitter.com/OsTZayvV2y
— Sean Marino (@oniram177) March 23, 2022
The Valorant developer added that some bundles are continuously delayed due to the team wanting to push more: “Gaia’s Vengeance was delayed an entire year so that we could add effects, audio and colored variants. It became a meme on the team that it would never release because we kept pushing it back to add more.”
Rounding the post off, Sean explained how he’d like to see the conversation switch from players claiming a skin “sucks” to a reason of why they’re not a fan, or explaining what could be better about it.
As expressed by Sean Marino himself, the entirety of the Valorant dev team are committed to listening and taking on board community feedback – and making every decision one that benefits players first.
