UK-based team matchmaking service Teams.gg has today announced its expansion into Riot Games’ team shooter Valorant.
Teams.gg, founded by three lifelong friends James Duffield, Tom Russell and Stuart Crouchman, uses player survey data and in-game statistics to match users with similar players which their algorithm deems to be the best fit for their playstyle and skill level.
While originally focusing on the CSGO community, Teams.gg will now offer the same free service to avid Valorant players, marking the first significant expansion of the platform.
Teams.gg has seen solid growth since its inception in 2019, where over 2,000 eager CSGO players signed up on the first day. Now the service has seen approximately 35,000 players complete the unique Teams.gg survey, with more than 3,000 players using the website every month.
The founding team behind Teams.gg are also aiming to combat team toxicity and loneliness across the online gaming community by helping players avoid incompatible teammates found through solo queue.
So far they’ve managed to help a significant number of users do that, with new data revealed by the company showing that 38% of registered users have connected with ideal teammates since signing up. Players during the pandemic are also matching more than before, with successful matches up by 26% since last year.
Teams.gg CEO and co-founder James Duffield said: “Our main ethos behind Teams.gg has always been very simple – gamers who play with friends enjoy themselves more, win more often and play for longer. Over the past couple of years, we’ve worked hard to connect players across the CSGO ecosystem, and we’ve seen some amazing results.
“Extending our platform to Valorant felt natural considering the similarities to CSGO and how Valorant esports is exploding all around the world. We’re excited to see how the players react and, who knows, maybe we can help forge a future VCT Championship roster!”
One user who has benefited from the service is Oliver Power, a software developer from Birmingham, who began using Teams.gg after rekindling his passion for competitive CSGO during the first lockdown.
“I really started to amp up my CSGO gameplay during the first lockdown,” he said. “I had a couple of regular teammates, but we always struggled to find a good fourth or fifth, so we’d just end up getting frustrated with random, toxic solo queue players who joined. After using Teams.gg, I started meeting players who were just like me and had the same aspirations in the game.
“Not only that, but because I was always playing with a full team of friends, I noticed my rank progression soar much faster than it would through solo queuing, going from Silver II (second from bottom) to DMG (near the top), something I’ve never achieved before.”
In 2020, Teams.gg won ESI’s The Clutch Digital start-up competition.
The UK has a host of Valorant talent – recently it was announced that the UK is the most represented country in Valorant EU Stage 3 Challengers 2.
Keen Valorant players looking to sign-up to the new service can do so on the Teams.gg Valorant web page.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.