Riot Seriously Needs To Step Up And Make Valorant Better

In the ever-evolving landscape of competitive gaming, Valorant stands as a testament to Riot Games’ commitment to delivering a dynamic and engaging experience. However, with the genre’s rapid pace of change, it is crucial for Riot to remain vigilant and proactive in implementing necessary adjustments to maintain Valorant’s position at the top and increase its player base.

Crumbling Player Base

I can say with surety that every person who has been into e-gaming must have heard of Valorant at least once. Indeed, Valorant has been gaining massive popularity since its Closed Beta debut in April 2020. The community loved it, and many former or even active Counter-Strike professionals started their new journey in Valorant, along with many content creators, such as Shroud, who transitioned to Valorant. 

Valorant player count has reduced from 19.5M to 15M since April 2024.”

However, Valorant has been losing its player base recently, for which no one else can be held accountable but Riot Games due to their excessive focus on making it more eSports-focused. As recorded from Tracker Network, Valorant had a player count of 19.5M, which was reduced to 15M in May 2024. But that’s not it; many of the content creators are also leaving Valorant due to its low viewership, VCT being an exception. 

Current Valorant Problems

Valorant currently has quite a few issues that Riot really needs to address. As a player who loves playing and grinding Valorant, I think that the map rotations of Valorant are really boring. Although the chances of a map being in the queue after it is played have reduced simultaneously, the problem is not completely resolved.

There are times when the same map is queued twice. Being a Breeze hater, it was added twice to my queue, where I ended up losing both of the games. Although I know losing these games was a skill issue.

Don’t you think Riot is focusing less on the community and more on eSports? I agree, too. Another problem with Valorant is that it is becoming increasingly eSports-focused, which barely leaves any room for enjoyment. Once a player hits Radiant or Immortal, they will most likely stop playing the game unless they are aiming to go pro. Apart from that, there are no other reasons to grind it anymore.

Right after Valorant’s full release, Riot ensured the community that they would come up with a fully developed replay system for Valorant. However, it’s been more than three years now, and the community is still waiting for the replay system. So, Riot Games also needs to address this dilemma of the Replay System.

Why is there no replay system?
byu/Jumpy-Minute6820 inVALORANT

Valorant Needs Better Matchmaking System

If you’re an adult in your mid-to-late twenties, picture this: After spending an exhausting day in the office, you get home, turn on your PC, open Riot Client, and launch Valorant to grind a few ranks with your homie, and then one of your teammate types in the chat, “Sorry, I haven’t played Valorant for the past two episodes, and it’s my first game after a long time.” while instantly locking chamber on a map like Lotus where Killjoy or Cypher is far better.

You want to bang your head on the table to queue this match. 

A player who has stopped playing Valorant and is playing after 2 or 3 acts where many aspects of the game have changed must start their rank with less MMR. However, in Valorant, that is not the case at all; Riot allows them to queue in their previous ranks, where they ruin games for players who are grinding ranks.

A player who is playing Valorant after 2 or 3 acts must start their rank with less MMR.”

Another issue with Valorant matchmaking is that the number of players queueing together is not balanced. If there is a duo in one team, then there should be a duo in the other team. The same goes for trio queues. Both teams should have an equal number of duos or trios, thus creating a balance and not giving any of the teams an edge in communication or team play.

Needs To Be More Player-Focused

I think some of the above-highlighted issues can be ignored for the time being, but it doesn’t mean that Riot Games should completely abandon them and never look back. Riot needs to address these issues and many more, as they are highlighted by the active community members of Valorant.

If Riot wants to increase the player count after its huge decline, then it needs to address some of the changes requested by the community and players.

Valorant has the potential to be the ultimate FPS for the upcoming years, and in order to achieve the top spot and continue dominating it, Valorant needs to be a bit more community-focused than eSports-focused. Otherwise, it might die like CS: GO while making another big example for the FPS titles.