VALORANT's Pearl Map Accused Of Being A Counter-Strike Rip-Off

The upcoming VALORANT map, Pearl, might be an aqua-dome paradise replica of a Portuguese Atlantis, but the sea surrounding this magical landscape might be too hot to touch, as it has instantly landed in hot water.

Pearl, the eighth map to land in VALORANT, has seen the agents get their diving suits out to swim to a completely underwater arena.

Operating within a completely transparent dome, the city is Omega Earth’s version of Lisbon, Portugal. However, it may have drawn inspiration from elsewhere, and pinched its layout from a rival.

CS:GO Pro Notices Startling Similarities Between Iconic Map And VALORANT's Pearl

It's undeniable that Counter-Strike and VALORANT are pretty similar and there are undoubtedly going to be crossovers. However, long-time players of CS have noticed that Pearl has a striking resemblance to a classic map before the ages of Global Offensive.

CS:GO veteran Joshua "Steel" Nissan, who also enjoyed a successful year as a VALORANT pro with 100 Thieves, noticed that Pearl looks almost identical to "Season", a map from Counter-Strike: Source and Operation Vanguard in Global Offensive. Once all of the flashy gimmicks have been stripped away and the salty seawater swept ashore, the layout of the two maps appear to be distinctly similar.

Steel didn't quite get on an accusatory bandwagon, but rather claimed that the "vibes" are the same. If anything, the T1 superstar showed a sense of excitement for the game, adding that Season was his best map, before it was removed in 2016.

Similarities between CS:S' Season and VALORANT's Pearl

The two overhead shots of the respective maps show quite a lot of similarities. Starting with the spawn points which, albeit are quite common having been pitted at the north and south sides of the maps, are pretty identical in their exits, the one-way South-Eastern bends towards the B site are pretty replicable. 

Both bomb sites sit in pretty much the same places while they have identical entrances from the middle of the map and both respective spawns. Season does have the odd extra U-bend, as seen in the South-Western side of the map, and a couple more nooks and crannies in the central areas, but as for the action and rotations, the routes are almost a copy-and-paste job.

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Interestingly, Counter-Strike's Season was a fan-made map tailored for competitive play, which is great news for fans and players of the esports scene and ranked playlists. 

Of course, there's no knowing as to whether it is an actual rip-off, but nonetheless, Pearl is set to be a great map in VALORANT if it follows the success of Season.