Riot Games is finally adding a match replay system to Valorant.
Replays will come to Valorant on patch 11.06 in September on PC, while console players will have to wait until later in the year.
To ensure fans believe it is real, Riot showcased footage of the replay tools in action during the company’s latest dev update video.
In addition to that, Riot also announced that massive changes are planned for Valorant’s esports scene in 2027 with three major goals in mind.
Riot wants to keep partnerships but bridge the gap between Tier 1 and Tier 2 teams with more opportunities for lower teams, as first teased by the Global Head of Valorant Esports on Reddit.
The publishers also want a more flexible esports ecosystem with a wider variety of tournaments, formats, and more event locations globally.
And lastly, Riot wants to “create more moments” by hosting more regional events, though they are happy with the current number of international tournaments.
In other esports news, Riot announced that Pick’Ems are returning for all Masters and Champions events.
When making your predictions, keep in mind that Team Liquid’s IGL nAts is missing the start of Valorant Masters Toronto.
Speaking of, it was revealed that at Valorant Masters Toronto will also reveal a new map that will come to the game with added verticality.
Riot confirmed that this new map will be available in competitive mode from day one of its release to support players in learning the map quicker.
For its first patch cycle, the equivalent of two weeks, losses on the new map will have Rank Rating (RR) losses reduced by 50%.
Another major change is Riot are upgrading Valorant to Unreal Engine 5 at the end of July in patch 11.02, with claims it will improve frame rates, update download speeds, and “unlock more possibilities.”
Riot admitted this will be a huge update but promised it won’t affect players’ performance, with many fearing their computers will no longer be able to handle the game.
In other news, Valorant product manager Tiffy Tsay says the devs are working hard on ability clarity in the game:
“We’re looking at situations where ability combos can sometimes feel overwhelming in combat and recognise that adding new agents with new abilities can increase those feelings.”
Avoiding a side effect which was most prevalent in Overwatch esports.
In the video update, Riot also addressed Valorant’s issues with smurfing.
Later this year, Riot is trying to make it harder to share accounts by adding multifactor authentication for accounts in suspicious cases and possibly all competitive accounts.
Additionally, Riot is adding a new reporting category for players ‘abusing matchmaking systems.’
This is hoped to give Riot better data on when players are smurfing and to also stop players from flooding the cheating category with reports of smurfs, making it easier for developers to concentrate their anti-cheat efforts.
In my seven years of esports writing, I’ve introuduced esports coverage to newspapers, interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and driven viewers mad with the puns in my YouTube scripts. I’m most proud of the latter.
