RIOT

To answer this we first have to ask ourselves what a monopoly is. For Riot Games the playing board is Esports. And a monopoly is when you have no competitors. Esports in of itself is a competition where spectators watch, usually gamers. But there's a hidden competition behind the scenes...

If we look at Riot Games' history, we see early buddings of the dawn of Esports. It is fair to credit Riot for the influx of mainstream popularity of the medium, and sets a strong argument to an eventual monopoly. But Riot Games was once known as the League of Legends creator alone (Riot Game). Until...

Their entry to the FPS world. VALORANT is not their second release after League of Legends, but it is their first game outside the League of Legends universe. If we look at it on paper, we've got a once in a generation game that sweeps the indsutry with humble beginnings. Across a decade, a brewing storm of a competitively engaged player-base. And in 2020 a strategic move to a huge genre in Esports, the tactical shooter space.

To assume VALORANT will have a similar run to League of Legends would be farfetched. League has had an engaged audience for over a decade, the players know the champions like the back of their hands, and a whole in-game universe is strategically being built around it, and has been for a good chunk of its life-span. That being said the fans aren't getting more of this universe...

VALORANT is a new universe. Making a FPS for League of Legends just wasn't going to cut it, but why are we making a FPS to begin with?

Competition.

Dedicated fans would know of an MMO being teased from RIOT Games, and loosely alluded to. In the case of a monopoly on Esports, an open-world game doesn't fit the memo. Lore is great, everyone loves a good story, but not everyone can keep up with it.

Game genres can shift between what makes them fun for players. Counter-Strike from Valve has almost no lore, but it is fun because it is competitive for players. Valve has had a bit of a rivalry with Riot, a rivalry that will likely shape the industry as a whole.

I am personally excited to see how it pans out in the competitive space of gaming. On one end you have a company founded by natural business men and the other founded by natural game developers. There's a delicate balance between a game being fun to play and fun to indulge in.

And the once in a blue moon event that was the birth of the MOBA... well this is the kind of ball game it takes to monopolise an industry. And recreating a new gaming genre... that just defeats the purpose. Re-create?

Corporate ties and money fall flat to their face in the majesticness that is an entirely new genre. And worrying about if competition makes the game fun to play, let alone watch or keep up with, isn't the kind of fish you should be frying in this realm.

That being said the world is your oyster. Especially if you're making your own.