Paris (AFP)

"If Valorant has a competitive future, Vitality must go above," said AFP Fabien Devide, founder of the French esports team Vitality, a few weeks after the official release of the new game from Riot Games.

Q: The publisher of Valorant Riot Games has not yet announced a competitive scene for its game, but many clubs have already positioned themselves on it. What about Vitality?

A: "Today, Riot Games' desire is to gather maximum feedback. It is a good thing for them that they do not hurry to run after the competition even if historically their strategy on their other licenses was to do esports. I don’t think they’re going to deviate from this rule today. It’s still a good thing to be a bit more involved in community animation in the first place. time to create an audience and a pool of players to allow the game to improve. This is the right approach and of course if the game has a competitive future, Vitality must go on it. "

Q: Have you already started looking for professional players on Valorant?

A: "We started a little, we must not be too late, we must not stay in the reaction because of the fact that nothing was discussed on the esport dimension. We took the bull a little by the horns and today we have mandated a person who takes the temperature on the profiles who are on the scene, who scouting, detections, who watches tournaments, the players who stand out from the crowd. approach of observation, of understanding. We are more in taking a temperature than in a hyper precocious desire to sign a team at any cost. On the other hand, if the conditions are met and a great opportunity presents itself, we will not wait a year. It can be next week as in six months, it will depend on what is put in place around the game, the ecosystem and our work of tracking and detection. "

Q: What attracted you to the game?

A: "The potential is there for many reasons, the main one being that Riot Games is the publisher who understands esport best and who founded the best esport ecosystem in the world. Today, it is the healthier and more interesting for a major team. If they manage to duplicate what they managed to create on League of Legends, or at least to imbibe it, the model will be very interesting and we will have the will to In addition, the game is a big popular success, it is part of our criteria, the audience is the engine of everything and the essence for the success of a game and a competitive scene. thing, it is the competitiveness of the opus and I think that today Valorant on paper, it is a project which is very sexy. "

Interview by Diane FALCONER

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