Hey, VALORANT! I’m Preeti Khanolkar (Producer), and I’m here to talk to you about how we bring weapon skin fantasies to life while staying within the boundaries of VALORANT’s competitive integrity. Together, Sean Marino (Art Lead) and I run the Premium Content team, which is responsible for all the cosmetics you see in the game: weapons skins, gun buddies, sprays, and more. But today, we’d like to focus just on weapon skins!

Last week, Marino outlined our principles for weapons: A gameplay-first approach with a gun for every situation. And that’s not changing, even when your Vandal spits molten fire or blasts sleek sci-fi energy. Our goal for skins is to give players another way to express who they are and what they love without ruining another player’s gameplay experience.

We'd like to give you a behind-the-scenes peek at how we work so you can see how we design skins not just for personalized expression, but for appreciation—to immerse you in your chosen fantasy. And if you want...