How Does Valorant Make Money? [5 Ways]

Valorant Skin Sales

Valorant's primary source of income undeniably comes from the sale of in-game purchases, in other words, Valorant skins.

Since Valorant is a free to play game, Valorant skins offer no pay-to-win incentives whatsoever. Despite this, millions of players are spending money to get Valorant skins. Cosmetic items include skins, battle passes, and Radianite points that can make the player's weapon skins look more appealing. By purchasing Valorant skins, players can personalize their loadouts, allowing for a better gaming experience.

Tournament Sponsors

As discussed earlier, Valorant's professional scene has gained a lot of traction, with millions of viewers spectating every tournament. The success of the Valorant esports scene provides the Riot Games business model with another opportunity to make money: gathering sponsors for their tournaments.

For those unaware, businesses pay tournament organizers to display and promote their brands and products throughout the video game tournaments. Since Riot Games is directly responsible for hosting their tournaments, they receive all the money from these businesses.

To put into perspective how much money Riot prints from Valorant skins, we can take the skins from the Valorant Champions 2023 bundle. The bundle is priced at 6,167 Valorant Points, which is around $60. Paying sixty bucks for in-game pixels can be expensive, but Riot Games has reported that the sales from the bundle have accumulated to over $20 million.

However, since the bundle revolves around the Valorant Champions 2023 tournament, 50% of the money is distributed between the participating teams to support professional players as a part of their salary. The other half goes directly to Riot's pockets.

Collaboration bundles like the Zedd Spectrum Collection are another special case where Riot may have to split sales. Other than that, 100% of revenue from every other bundle goes directly to Riot Games.

Esports Ticket Sales

Aside from tournament sponsors, Valorant can also make money from ticket sales in their tournaments. Let's bring in some numbers to give you a good idea of how much Valorant can make from ticket sales.

In the Valorant Champions 2023 tournament, tickets start from $50, and the tournament's final weekend was held in the KIA Forum, a multi-purpose indoor arena in California, United States. It was reported that 11,5000 spectators were in attendance.

Official Valorant Merchandise

The fourth revenue stream for Valorant is through the sales of their official merchandise. These merchandise include apparel, collectibles, art, accessories, and more. There are two main channels for Valorant to sell their merchandise from: their official website, or offline events.

Valorant fans worldwide can purchase Valorant merchandise directly from the Riot Games official website. Riot Games offers worldwide shipping, so players from most countries can cop their merchandise.

Though Riot has not released any public information, we think other popular weapon skin bundles like the Reaver and RGX series probably make tens of millions of dollars, too.

Ad Revenue From Tournaments

Going back to the focus on Valorant's esports scene, the fifth way Valorant makes money is through advertising revenue from their events and tournaments. Ad revenue is probably the lowest-paying way Valorant makes money, but it should still bring in a decent amount.

In the recent Valorant Champions 2023 tournament, some very notable businesses sponsored the event:

• Amazon (Prime Gaming)

• HyperX

• Mastercard

• Red Bull

• Secret Lab

• Verizon

• Xbox

If you're an avid spectator of the professional scene, you'll notice the commentators mentioning phrases like "Red Bull Clutch" and "Prime Gaming Flawless". These are strategic product placements that real businesses like Redbull and Amazon pay for.

In between matches, these brands are also displayed on-screen in live streams and at the tournament venue as well.

When we run the math, Valorant receives at least $575,000 per day for every Champions 2023 tournament day held in the venue.

Though ticket sales generate less revenue than skin sales, it's still a substantial revenue stream that should be considered.

Another effective channel for selling merchandise is through offline events, like tournaments or meetups. For example, every hardcore Valorant fan dreams of attending a tournament like Valorant Champions 2023. These fans wouldn't want to go home empty-handed, and they can buy merchandise in the event as a souvenir to cherish the moment.

Valorant T-shirts range from $30 to $40, while hoodies and jackets start from $60 to $95. Valorant also sells incredible statues for different agents, which are over 11 inches in height. These statues cost over $170.

Ever watched a professional match live on Twitch and got hit by three unskippable ads? Well, you're not alone, as millions of Twitch users got advertisements at the same time, too. Only viewers with Twitch Prime subscriptions are safe from the ads.

Advertisers pay Twitch, YouTube, and other streaming platforms to play these ads on your screen. And, since you are watching from Valorant's official channels, Valorant will receive a big cut from how much the advertisers are paying.

Ad revenue does not bring anywhere near how much money skin and ticket sales generate for Riot Games, but they could get a couple thousand dollars from each Tier 1 Valorant match.