Valorant Vs Overwatch | Is Valorant Better Than Overwatch?

Valorant’s initial release saw a lot of comparisons to other games, but the biggest one was Overwatch. Valorant has pulled in a lot of Overwatch fans, and even a good amount of Overwatch’s esports players.

Naturally, this has led fans to compare the two and think about Valorant vs Overwatch. If you’re looking at is Valorant better than Overwatch, you have to think about its gameplay, impact, and even how popular the two games are:

Valorant vs Overwatch Player Count

Valorant and Overwatch have a lot in common in terms of their gameplay. However, one of the best ways to look at it is Valorant vs Overwatch player counts. So how do the two games compare here? A lot of game developers don’t release specific player numbers. They tend to only release them when they have something to boast about. The most recent numbers indicate that up to 10 million monthly players are still active in Overwatch as of the end of 2020.

Valorant began life with around 3 million monthly players during its open beta. However, the game has climbed in player numbers significantly since then. In terms of Valorant vs Overwatch player count, Overwatch likely still comes out ahead by a small margin. This will probably change as time progresses. However, the release of the Overwatch sequel eventually will probably make a big difference to player numbers.

Valorant vs Overwatch Characters and Gameplay

Raw player numbers aren’t everything. One big way to compare the two is to look at Valorant vs Overwatch characters and gameplay. This is the big area where Valorant vs Overwatch seem to overlap. Both games feature hero/agent abilities on top gun play. In terms of the characters alone, this is too subjective to make a straight judgment. Some players might find the Valorant characters more interesting than the Overwatch characters, and vice versa. Since Overwatch has been around for substantially longer, there is a good amount more ‘character’ material for you to get your teeth stuck into. There’s more lore for this game by far.

In terms of gameplay, the titles aren’t as similar as a lot of people think. Valorant might have abilities like Overwatch, but the buying round and gunplay are straight out of CS GO. Valorant is more traditionally competitive, which is great for esports. However, both Valorant betting and Overwatch betting are pretty popular. Valorant might have more traditionally competitive gameplay, but both games are fun and fairly unique.

In terms of gun play specifically, Valorant puts a lot more emphasis on precision shots and one-tapping than Overwatch. Its very rare when a single shot can kill you in Overwatch, while in Valorant that is mostly the default setting.

Hanzo and Sova: The two bowman

Esports Popularity

Valorant vs Overwatch can be looked at through a few different lenses. A big one is the games’ esports communities. Specifically, just how popular are each of the games competitively? We can take a direct look at viewership for events to see which games wins out in this measurement.

Most recently, the May Melee cup increased 51% from the 2020 Overwatch League. A big part of this growth is down to the switch to a tournament format. With regular weekly matches bringing in around 100,000 viewers. This varies match to match, with finals getting more viewers. In terms of the last major event, the 2020 finals managed 120,000 concurrent viewers on YouTube.

Valorant has managed up to 800,000 viewers across different platforms for major events in 2021. This was a huge tournament though, which is more directly comparable to the Overwatch finals. Valorant is pretty clearly ahead of the competition in terms of esports viewership, but the Overwatch League is once again growing.

Due to community engagement and co-streams by popular streamers Valorant is getting a lot more traction in terms of esports fandom. Overwatch is likely going to catch up only if OW2 brings a lot of new changes to the production quality.

Updates and Growth

So far looking at is Valorant better than Overwatch, there are things working in both games’ favors. However, how these factors will change in the future is a big decision. Players looking at a competitive game typically need some reliance that the game is going to last for a while. No one wants to invest time and energy into a game that will disappear soon enough, so how do Valorant and Overwatch player count and popularity look for the future?

Valorant is still very much alive. Its esports scene is growing, and the game is updated with new chapters regularly. New agents, abilities, and mechanics are added in all the time. Essentially, Valorant is still in its build-up stage. Overwatch is a bit of a different story. Events still come at their normal times, but Overwatch 1 has ceased to receive content updates as it used to. It is worth noting that this is just a stop-gap for Overwatch. A sequel is coming soon, which will give the title a lot more content.

Is Valorant Better than Overwatch?

When looking at Valorant vs Overwatch, each game has its strengths and weaknesses. They are different enough to make a direct comparison difficult. Valorant has a few things in its favor. Its esports scene is still growing, rather than contracting, and the playerbase is slowly growing. The title is still building a player base, and it is very regularly updated.

Most of these advantages won’t last forever though. While Valorant has a few factors over Overwatch right now, Overwatch is in a bit of a lull. The game is in a development cycle, awaiting the release of a pretty extensive sequel. Once this game comes out, we can make a better call about which of the two games is better. Right now, Valorant has a bit of an advantage.