Skins In Games Like Valorant Cost Just As Much As GOTY Nominees, And It’s Infuriating

Although variable, a single melee skin in Valorant can cost upwards of $50, and more common skins can still be around $15. Now, if a weapon has a few dozen animations or unique characteristics, maybe it’s a worthwhile buy, but when you can get entire games at the same cost as one singular weapon skin, it becomes laughable how overcharged these cosmetics truly are.

Taking into perspective, a basic skin bundle that Valorant releases every few months can cost you about $85, which is more than enough to buy last year’s game of the year winner, Elden Ring. Now, are a few new animations and skin packs worth more than a title labeled by many as one of the defining games of the century? I’ll let the players decide.

No matter how intensely detailed and smooth an animation can be, a price tag of over $20 for one gun cosmetic, no matter how good it looks, is a scam and one that games like Fortnite and Apex pull way too often. At the same price as one decent gun skin in Valorant, players can buy titles like Hades or Celeste, which, by the way, were game of the year nominees and have hours of jaw-dropping content. Quite an imbalanced scale.

The Value Of Cosmetic Skins

Players who spend dozens of hours on just one game would benefit from buying these skins, but for the majority of players, it is always better to go out and try new experiences. Although many skins have barely any value aside from being flashy, Heirlooms in Apex are dynamic melee weapons unique to each legend in the game; now, that’s how you do cosmetic skins.

Heirlooms in Apex Legends add a whole new dimension to the world of cosmetic skins. These dynamic melee weapons are not just visually striking, but they also keep those dull mid-games a bit more flavourful. These sorts of cosmetic entities do bring more to the table than worthless reskins and overpriced bundles.

Most of these Heirlooms are genuinely amazing, but some, like Horizon’s Heirloom above, don’t quite seem to hit that mark, especially when a single one costs a whopping $170 if calculated in Apex Packs. Honestly, even if the skin was able to win me every game I got into magically, I still don’t think a price tag of this kind is justifiable, even if the skin has secret animations.

The same could be said about how Fortnite does its cosmetics. Unlike gun skins, it focuses on player skins, trails, and collabs for most of its cosmetic prosperity. Unlike in Apex and Valorant, you can literally be a superhero or an influencer via player-based skins, even if voice lines and unique animations may be missing. Although Call Of Duty Warzone also copied this trope, Fortnite at least made it somewhat humorous.

The Sheer Difference In Content Is Truly Absurd

Now, if we talk about sentimental value if a player is truly happy with their slightly yellow-painted AK-47, then it is absolutely worth it, but if a person can further explore newer avenues by using even a fraction of the money they spend on skins to buying other titles, I am sure they’ll get much more value in both content and enjoyability.

As I said before, Celeste is an indie game made by a generally small studio that went on to be nominated for Game of the Year and Best Soundtrack. The game costs a meager $20, which is a steal for a game with this much replayability and content, as well as a killer soundtrack. There is no way a Travis Scott skin in Fortnite is anywhere near the quality of this.

On the more expensive spectrum, Elden Ring, winner of multiple Game of the Year awards and a title defined as the defining game of the decade, costs a total of $60. For dozens of hours of fresh content, amazing bosses, mesmerizing soundtracks, and multiple endings, this is one huge package. On the other hand, The ElderFlame, one of Valorant’s most popular skin packs, costs $100 on release for 5 weapons.

Now, one could argue that these skins end up going on sale costing significantly less, but the same could be said for all these other games in the market. Another thing players could argue about is support for live service games like these that need constant funding in order to function years down the line. But with how much these studios make, it’s surprising how we don’t get enough content back.

Although they may be unique, in the end, skins give only a sense of comical relief to the player, and the amount that we pay for these skins it must be pretty funny. It’s always good to try out newer experiences, and for the low low price of one skin, players can do just that.