Valorant players angry over Riot’s response over “predatory” Radianite

Alan Bernal

Valorant players condemned a Rioters response to ire for the Radianite system in the game, with some people calling the skin upgrades exploitative and its marketing misleading.

Radianite is a separate in-game currency that people can opt-in to. While players outright buy Valorant Points (VP) with money, which they can then convert into Radanite Points (RP) to “evolve certain weapon skins and other content types in the game.”

Since first experiencing this system in the beta, the community have questioned Radianite and its place in the overall structure for premium weapon designs. “[Riot] are all exploiting people and should be ashamed of themselves,” one user responded to someone calling RP a “scam.”

Revenue Lead Joe ‘SWAGGERNAU7’ Lee chimed in to the discussion about how Riot Games gauges player sentiments for all things Valorant and how Radianite is on their radar to improve.

Radianite Points let players upgrade some cosmetics in Valorant.

“When we see things that we want to learn more about, we send out even more targeted surveys surrounding a particular topic or even host player labs to get real discussion going,” he said. “Radianite Points is one of those topics where we’re digging into more on.”

Lee didn’t go into more details about where the company currently is with addressing the concerns. But the lack of information in a thread focused on the strange Radianite marketing in-game left a sour note for people.

“You have some nerve to pull the ‘we need more information’ BS when you know your pricing system is misleading and predatory,” one user wrote. “You claim to be a gamer and a part of the community, but it’s clear through your words and actions you’re just another corporate drone who insults everyone’s intelligence and exploits the playerbase to chase the bottom line.”

Many were reluctant to accept Lee’s response to growing concerns over Radianite.

That was just one of a few pointed comments at Lee for touching on the polarizing issue. There are those who are happy to have ways of upgrading cosmetics to have robust features, while others see inherent problems in the Radianite system.

Riot has detailed their intentions for RP in the past while describing their intentions for the system, but players still want to see changes to the pricing structure and the rewards it unlocks.

About The Author

Alan is a former staff writer for Dexerto based in Southern California who covered esports, internet culture, and the broader games/streaming industry. He is a CSUF Alum with a B.A. in Journalism. He's reported on sports medicine, emerging technology, and local community issues. Got a tip or want to talk?