For those who've so far missed their chance to play the Valorant closed beta, developer Riot Games is giving them a nice little consolation prize when the game launches in summer 2020. Although it isn't much, it's still a nice gesture of good faith to a community that is much, much wider than the relatively small pools of hardcore fans, streamers, and esports athletes that generally make up closed betas.
Closed beta keys have flowed like water for some Valorant players, but many others have had real difficulty getting their hands on any since the beta opened a month ago. While that neglected group has likely been fine-tuning their hero shooter and FPS skills in similar games to bide their time, Riot has done a fairly commendable job of overseeing the Valorant beta, managing to keep most controversy to a minimum (excepting PC players' common cheating habits, of course). Notorious for making anti-consumer decisions against players' favor in League of Legends and still keeping some - including its own employees - wary of its history of discrimination, Riot has fought an uphill battle to win every ounce of good will that its earned from Valorant players and stream viewers thus far.
Further cementing its desire for a solid foundational relationship with its current and would-be players, Riot took to the official Valorant Twitter account to thank players for their time playing and watching the closed beta with an "exclusive player card for anyone who's watched enough streams to be eligible for [the closed beta]." They promise that "even if you don't get in," the player card will still be found attached to their account "at launch." The player card, itself, features concept art of playable hero Brimstone saluting, with "closed beta" crossed out and Roman numberals for 2020 in the top-left corner, as well as a reference to Twitch in the top-right that optimistically reads, "See you in chat."
It's a nice gesture from the developer to players who helped to make the upcoming title an absolute hit on Twitch over the past month, and it's hopefully a sign of the kind of healthier relationship it wants to maintain with its playerbase this time around. That said, it takes two to tango, and some players and viewers' behavior toward developers during the Valorant closed beta has been as abhorrent as anyone who's logged onto League of Legends in the last, well, ever would be unsurprised to see.
A seemingly new and improved Riot Games crosses one item off of fans' long wishlist for the competitive FPS, and mutual respect between the studio, its employees, and players would go a long way to maintain what headway has already been made. Now the next biggest problem to tackle is cheating, which has run rampant all throughout the beta and doesn't bode well for ranked or casual play at launch.
Source: Valorant