‘Valorant’ Hounded By Major Issue While In Closed Beta

“Valorant” is still in closed beta, but it still wasn’t able to escape a common problem that hounds even major titles today: cheaters.

Recently, Riot Games anti-cheat developer Phillip Koskinas revealed that there were more than 8,000 cheaters discovered in the game’s closed beta – 8,873 to be exact. While it might pale in comparison to the 70,000 cheaters banned on “Call of Duty: Warzone” last April, it is still a concerning number for a game that is not yet for public release.

The game is already one of the most-hyped titles in recent memory, and if there is already rampant cheating in it while in the testing phase, then that number is sure to increase more when it is officially released.

Fortunately, Riot Games quickly took action and banned the nearly 9,000 cheaters from the closed beta. They also vowed to adopt stricter measures moving forward in order to lessen or totally prevent cheating in the game.

“Even though this is just closed beta, we've promised that we're going to be heavily committed to anti-cheat. This banwave is still only the beginning. We're going to ensure the highest standard of competitive integrity in VALORANT,” Riot Games wrote in a follow-up tweet, serving as a warning to those beta testers who will try to cheat in the upcoming tactical shooter.

“Valorant” is brewing to be the next competitive game that is expected to take the industry by storm, so its ability to prevent cheaters will be crucial in its success. Besides, given that it has a ranking mode, it is important to ensure that players are on a level playing field during matches.

It is also worth noting that a number of professional players have jumped ship to “Valorant” in preparation for what is expected to be a hit esports franchise in the gaming community. With that said, Riot Games cannot afford to let cheaters run rampant and the issue unresolved.

To be fair to Riot Games though, they have been really strict about cheating and hacking in the game. Recently, anti-cheat lead Paul Chamberlain explained how they plan to beat cheaters.

“We first build the game to be as cheat-resistant as we can (e.g., Fog of War, and server authoritative movement netcode). Next, we make the cost of developing cheats as prohibitive as possible (e.g., Vanguard and other anti-tamper measures). Finally, we detect, ban, and remove cheaters from the game as efficiently as possible using Vanguard cheat detection, hardware bans, player reports, data analysis, and machine learning research,” Chamberlain wrote in a post on the “Valorant” website.

“Valorant” has no specific release date yet. However, it is scheduled to be launched on PC this 2020.