Valorant developers prioritize community desires, introduce Prime Phantom and Karambit knife

After announcing the Prime 2.0 skin series in Valorant, Riot Games’ Senior Weapons Artist Chris Stone spoke at length about introducing the Prime Phantom and the iconic Karambit knife.

The Prime 1.0 skin series was released at the time of Valorant’s launch. Needless to say, most fans in the community grabbed the skins as soon as they could.

However, the first Prime skin bundle did not feature a skin for all the weapons present in Valorant. The community was massively disappointed to see the fan-favorite Phantom not receive a Prime skin.

Once this Prime 2.0 Set drops I am for sure copping this Prime Phantom HOLY 🔥 #VALORANT pic.twitter.com/FIctaEGSQx

— Dreadful 🌸 (@xDreadful) March 1, 2021

I have said it before. A butterfly knife or karambit in Valorant would be a first day buy for me. I like the dagger animation but at some point it feels like a copy and paste with different models.

— Michael A (@Malssid2) February 22, 2021

But developers have seriously taken the community's concerns and brought forward the Prime Phantom skin with the Prime 2.0 bundle. Additionally, they have also introduced the iconic Karambit knife to Valorant.

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Valorant’s developers talk about prioritizing the community requests.

Stone explained that the goal for the Prime 2.0 bundle was to ensure the heritage of Prime 1.0 skins was kept intact while trying to evolve. Speaking about the design process behind the Prime Phantom, he said,

“We want players who own the Prime Vandal to feel like the Prime//2.0 Phantom offers something new but still feels cohesive with their collection as they play. In terms of color, originally in development, Prime//2.0 was rich dark blue, gold, and white, but after looking at it with the team for a while, it didn’t feel premium enough. I ended up going back in to adjust the textures and I’m happy where it landed with black, gold, and white.”

Additionally, Stone also discussed why the Karambit knife got the nod for the Prime 2.0 bundle over other melee skins. He said,

“Of course, players have been asking for a karambit-style melee for a while. We thought this was a great opportunity to put our own spin on it by creating a unique high-end karambit with some unique equip animations, while still preserving that classic karambit interaction through the inspect [feature].”

Given the amount of thought and effort put into game development, it feels safe to assume that Riot Games is dedicated to providing an optimal experience for all players in Valorant.