VALORANT is a new and upcoming game that is being released June 2, and is created by popular game development company, Riot Games. This company is also the creator of League of Legends, a very popular game with over 50 million active players. VALORANT is a 5 player versus 5 player game where one team is set to take over sites and plant a spike (bomb) while the other team is set to defend these sites and prevent them from planting the spike. The game is similar to Valve’s “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, with a very similar type of gamemode. The difference between the two games is that VALORANT has the player use special abilities to help get them the advantage in game, while Counter-Strike takes on a more realistic approach. VALORANT seems to have been created as a direct competitor to Counter-Strike after its domination of the 5v5 bomb defusal game mode style. For many years Counter-Strike has remained a very popular game with millions of players across the globe, and it seem Riot Games is ready to take them on.

VALORANT is not available to the public until June 2, so how do people get to actually play the game early? Well, Riot has created a bit of a lottery/golden ticket system where people watch different streamers on a website called twitch. While you are watching these streams you have a very small chance to get the game as a rare drop. This has created a bit of hype and exclusivity for the game as not everyone can try it out for themselves yet.

A huge problem in large games like these are people that cheat to gain a superior advantage over other people. Riot has a very intrusive approach to stopping these people from doing that. They have a type of anti-cheat that installs directly onto your computer and actively scans your files to see if there might be anything suspicious. This has split a lot of people because some people see it as a very effective way to catch and stop cheaters, while others see it as a massive breach of privacy. User “JackDostoevsky” had this to say about the anti-cheat system

“They’re treating everyone’s computer like a dedicated gaming machine, and for many people this might be the case! Their PC may be their primary gaming rig.” they said. “However, it’s often their primary, general purpose computer in many cases as well. It is the computer that they save their passwords on, or have bank info connected to. This is stuff that people want private.”

A lot of people do not like the idea of company’s having direct access to a lot of sensitive information on your home computer. This has deterred a lot of people from downloading the game if they were lucky enough to get access to it.

Another user named “CallMeCosmic” has said this in response to the anti-cheat.

“I just uninstalled the game. After waiting so long and being the last of my friends to get a key, I just can’t accept this anti-cheat. Not worth the risk.” the user said. “Hope they change and they have responded by saying they will be open to changing based on community feedback. Hopefully they get something new put out so I can continue to enjoy this game.

It seems that if any malicious hackers were able to gain access to the anti-cheat, they could also gain access to thousands of people files and private information. A lot of people are scared of this fact and refuse to play because of it. Riot has responded to this by giving out a $100,000 dollar bounty for anyone that can track down and find vulnerabilities and flaws in their anti-cheat system. By the looks of it, Riot Games does not want its players to feel unsafe while playing their game and is strictly dedicated to ensuring the privacy of its users.

One thing about Counter-Strike is that it is very popular among the eSports scene. The game has hundreds of thousands of viewers and millions of dollars given out each year in prizes. Riot also has their foot dipped in the eSports pool, with their game League Of Legends. A lot of people don’t expect VALORANT to make it as far as Counter-Strike in eSports due to the sole fact that the two games are very similar and Counter-Strike has solidified itself as one of the top contenders of eSports popularity. However, many pro teams for VALORANT are already popping up and it seems Riot Games is ready to take on this challenge.

With the release of the game happening in about a week, we can only sit and wait to see what comes next for it. The game could be a huge success or a huge flop depending on how it ends up compared to its competitors. However, Riot will most likely continue to update and tweak its game for the enjoyment of their playerbase.