VALORANT: Why did Riot decide to release the new Outlaw weapon?

Riot Games will release a new weapon, Outlawwhich reaches the VALUING next week, January 9th. In addition to other changes such as changes to agents and maps, the developer informed the motivations for adding new weapons to the game.

Why did the team decide to launch a new weapon?

Rumors of the arrival of a new weapon were nothing new to the community that had already been following the leaks. However, Coleman PalmVALORANT product manager stated that the idea had been in the minds of developers for some time.

Releasing a new weapon is very different from releasing a new Agent or a new map, and it’s something we’ve been considering for a long time. Agents or maps are more limited. You only play one map at a time, there is only one Agent on each team. Weapons are universal tools that everyone can buy if they have enough credits.

Furthermore, he also revealed that to create a weapon it is necessary to have a reason for it to exist and to know in which situations players will make the purchase.

We have always believed that each of our weapons needs to have a very good reason for existing. In what situations will you buy it, how do you want to use it,
etc. Early in VALORANT’s development, we had a larger selection of weapons. However, we have reduced the options in the launch arsenal to better align with this philosophy.

High precision weapon with average price

Finally, the manager explained that the Outlaw was developed to be between the Marshal and the Operator, with an average price between the two weapons.

Since launch, we’ve been evaluating the state of the game in real time to see whether or not there was a clear opportunity for a new weapon in the game, such as a use case or situation that hadn’t been fully considered. With Outlaw, we believe we have identified one such case.

A mid-priced, lethal sniper rifle that should create more options for the sniper playstyle, as well as more strategic depth for VALORANT as a whole.

How can a new weapon in VALORANT change the current meta?

With so many changes planned for the release of Episode 8, some changes and goals are bound to change. Furthermore, according to Nick SmithVALORANT designer and Sal GarozzoDesigner architect, the weapon will open up possibilities for casts.

Outlaw will increase the range of options for those who want to use sniper rifles according to the economy. Additionally, we expect it to be effective against Light Shields, so this could influence current buying patterns in the meta.

Lastly, we’re interested in how players think about using utilities in Outlaw rounds. The two-shot, high damage per shot paradigm allows the Outlaw to have unique interactions with utilities, which differentiates it from the Operator or Marshal.