Riot Games recently announced that its popular Valorant franchise is coming to mobile devices. Valorant is celebrating its one-year anniversary and a very successful first year with over 14 million active players each month. Along with the expansion, the franchise will also host a month-long in-game event to celebrate its success.
Riot Games is also holding its biggest competitive tournament to date throughout the month of June. The event will take place in Iceland, and the developer has confirmed that more than one million concurrent viewers tuned in to the finals on May 31.
Riot Games announces a mobile version of Valorant is under development
As of right now, we do not know many details about Valorant’s expansion. However, Valorant Executive Producer at Riot Games Anna Donlon has confirmed that the title will not be a spin or a different type of game.
“One of our top goals this first year was to earn the trust and respect of the global FPS community, and to prove to them that VALORANT will always uphold the fundamentals of a truly worthwhile competitive tac-shooter,” Donlon said. “To see our growing player community recognize and appreciate what we’re trying to do with VALORANT is beyond what we could’ve expected and we’re thrilled to soon offer the same competitive VALORANT experience to even more global players.”
To ensure that each platform offers the best experience, Donlon has revealed that Riot has no plans for cross-play between the two versions of the game right now. One thing Riot is interested in is creating a console version of Valorant. However, that is just something the developers are exploring right now and the mobile version of the game will definitely come first.
“Oddly enough, I actually do think the transition to mobile has been slightly easier for us,” Donlon said. “Console’s obvious for FPS, right? […] But this type of game, a tactical shooter, on console is not easy. It’s not easy to have that level of competitive integrity on a platform where the controller is fighting you for that. And we just didn’t want it. […] So we found it took to mobile quicker and it took to mobile easier.”
The news of the Valorant franchise expanding is not that surprising. Earlier this year, Riot made a similar move with League of Legends, launching a mobile-focused spinoff titled Wild Rift. The developers of a ton of popular shooting games have opted to move to mobile platforms in recent years with PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile being the biggest titles. A mobile version of Apex Legends is also in the works right now.
As for when players can expect the release of Valorant Mobile, Donland revealed that there is no confirmed release yet as of now but “hopefully that’s something we’ll be able to see in year two.”
via Polygon
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