Why Valorant's Collaboration With Zedd Was Such a Hit.

From collaborations with Katy Perry, Kehlani and Shawn Mendes, to features with Victoria Secret and South Park, to shining at Coachella and launching multiple tracks into the Billboard 100, Zedd has literally done it all. Making a partnership with him a no-brainer for Riot Games when it comes to their hot fps and esports title, Valorant.

They could have simply slapped his name on some marketing, had him mix a song for an event and be done with it. But as always, Riot went all out and made sure they got the most value they could out of the relationship, helping to once again grow, build and influence gaming culture in the process.

To kick things off, Riot worked with Zedd to co-create a skin bundle. But not just any bundle. This would turn out to be the single most expensive, elaborate, detailed and exciting bundle the game had seen to date. From unique design, to sleek colourways, to music that plays when you inspect the weapons or even use the in-game spray, to a finisher that turned the battlefield into a nightclub - this skin collection was like something never seen before in a video game.

The bundle launched with an exciting teaser featuring Zedd himself:

The Valorant community LOVED the skin. And by no coincidence at all, the biggest creators in the game started to immediately push out content featuring the new skin line in action. Perhaps the biggest of all, Shroud, was one of the first to hit an ace with the collection - showing off the different sounds as you ascend from kills 1 to 5. The skin even had an easter egg bonus sound if you pulled off a rare 6th kill.

One thing that Riot Games always gets right is to put the player first. In this case, they not only chose an artist whose musical style matched the game to a tee, but they chose an artist who was also a fan of the game.

As told by Forbes magazine:

“Zedd was very interested in collaborating with us on a skin line because he’s a huge fan of Valorant,” said ​​Sean Marino, Art Lead on Valorant at Riot Games. “He was playing the game for many months before our team met him, so it was cool that he approached us as a Valorant player, not as Zedd the artist. When we first started talking about ideas, something we established really early on with him was that we wanted to make a skin that would be broadly appealing and awesome whether or not you were familiar with Zedd’s music or brand. This means that players who like sci-fi and sound-heavy skins would love this skin, rather than this just being a skin that only Zedd fans would enjoy.”

Riot leveraged this in their marketing and content creation as they had Zedd get on stream and play Valorant with two of the biggest streamers the game has seen. Tarik and Average Jonas. This made sure that fans understood that Zedd was not just a random music collaboration, but a partnership with a fan of the game who also happened to make amazing music.

But yet again, Riot was not done there. They had created a unique, powerful and detailed skin line. They had teased and launched it with an amazing video. They created sticky and educational content featuring huge creators.

There was one thing left to do. Connect the Zedd partnership to the experience of the player.

And they did this masterfully in two ways.

First, they integrated the music from the collaboration into the Valorant home screen. So as you were loading in, sitting in a lobby or shopping skins, the normal music was replaced with a track from Zedd.

Secondly, they integrated Zedd with esports - specifically working to create a special Zedd remix of Die For You - the theme song for Champions 2021. And they even had Zedd as part of the final ceremony of the event.

This is one of my favourite pieces of creative work in gaming because it takes a boring category (collaborations/sponsorships) and shows that you don't need to simply rest on the value of the name you bring in or partner with. You can be like Riot and build a cohesive, through-the-line story that showcases the depth of your partnership and demonstrates to your fans and audience the authenticity of your collaboration.

It is no surprise Riot has taken the gaming and esports world by storm and become an integral part of gaming culture with their commitment to doing things right by the game, right by the culture and most importantly? Right by their fans.