Since its 2020 release, Valorant has dominated the competitive first-person shooter market on PC, attracting a devoted player base with its intense, tactical gameplay and precise gunplay. Now, with the highly anticipated Console Limited Beta underway, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S owners are finally getting their hands on Riot Games’ hit shooter.
But as a larger audience gets to experience the action first-hand, one can’t help but wonder: what might’ve been the biggest hurdle that the studio’s perfection-oriented devs had to overcome to bring Valorant to a completely new platform?
You might expect it to be something related to the game’s competitive nature, tweaking the matchmaking for potential crossplay, or perhaps the technical hurdles of optimizing performance on new hardware. Close, but not really! As it turns out, Riot Games’ primary focus was on something far more fundamental—something that could make or break the console experience.
Replicating the Core Valorant Experience
In a 2020 interview with Eurogamer, Valorant’s then-principal engineer, Felipe Romero, shed light on the team’s main challenge when adapting the game for consoles:
The big challenge of taking Valorant to console is being able to replicate the core game experience using a gamepad controller. Valorant is a game that requires precise aiming, responsive movement, recoil control and being able to execute abilities in a limited amount of time.
That’s right — the biggest challenge wasn’t balancing matchmaking for cross-platform play (which is not a thing, at least for now) or squeezing every last drop of performance out of the consoles. It was figuring out how to translate Valorant’s fast-paced, keyboard-and-mouse-centric gameplay to a gamepad.
Valorant’s gameplay was originally designed with keyboard and mouse controls in mind, allowing for quick, precise movements and split-second ability usage. Translating this experience to a gamepad, with its analog sticks and limited button real estate, necessitated a complete rethinking of the control scheme.
To address this challenge, Riot Games introduced an innovative “Focus Mode” feature exclusively for the console version, which functions similarly to hip-fire but with reduced sensitivity. As production Designer Arnar Gylfason explained in a recent press release:
This way, players can use Hip-Fire whenever they need speed in moving their camera/aim (peeking corners, dodging utility), but utilize focus mode whenever they need precision (getting those cool headshots).
Maintaining the Competitive Spirit
Another major concern for Riot Games was balancing the need for aim assist to make the game playable on a controller with the risk of compromising Valorant’s competitive integrity. Too much hand-holding, and the skill ceiling collapses; too little, and the game becomes a frustrating mess on consoles.
Is it possible to effectively execute a clutch play in Valorant using a controller? How much aiming and movement assistance can we provide without sacrificing the overall competitive environment? Valorant was designed to be played and experienced in a particular way. We want to make sure playing with a controller remains true to that core vision.
—Felipe Romero, Former Principal Engineer for Valorant
Interestingly, this commitment to fairness resulted in the decision not to include gyro-aiming support for the PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller, despite its potential to enhance precision.
Riot Games wanted to ensure a uniform experience across all consoles, and since Xbox controllers lack this technology, incorporating it for PS5 players would create an uneven playing field.
With the Console Limited Beta underway and a full release on the horizon, the future of Valorant on PlayStation and Xbox looks promising. As Riot Games continues to prioritize the core gameplay experience and gather player feedback, they move closer to delivering a competitive, engaging, and authentic Valorant experience for console players around the world.
Riot Games’ VALORANT is available on PC via Riot’s official website and the Epic Games Store, with a limited beta for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S currently in full swing.
