Riot shares update on VALORANT’s long-awaited replay system

Over the last four years, VALORANT players have been borderline begging the developers at Riot Games for a possible replay system to rewatch some of their greatest moments. Unfortunately, the team has shot down fans’ hopes with some bad news at a recent press conference.

Executive producer Anna Donlon confirmed that there still isn’t a timeframe for the replay system, even though they are still working on putting the new technology into the game. She also said that there will be more news to share over the new year, especially with how quiet they’ve kept around the topic with the general player base.

“I’m going to be super honest, it is way more complicated to implement [the replay system] into VALORANT than we wanted it to be,” Donlon said. “A lot of that has to do with optimizations that we made in the game before we even launched the game. Now that we’re trying to dig into the systems and get that replay system online, it is really complicated.”

The developers are still committed to applying the replay system to the game, but untangling the issues that they have behind the scenes has been tedious work. Players should hold their breath for the replay system, although we could see some updates later in the year if their work bears any fruit.

In Jan. 2023, the game’s replay system was originally confirmed to be in the works by Donlon, causing widespread excitement among the VALORANT community. Players had been looking for a way to re-watch their matches back since the game’s debut, especially with Riot’s uber-popular MOBA, League of Legends, sporting a fully functional replay system of its own.

From VALORANT‘s debut, players were forced to use external programs to record their gameplay and clips, but having an in-game system to rewatch and study one’s gameplay would be an incredible tool for those trying to show off to their friends or improve by watching their in-game tendencies. Players will, however, need to keep using these tools for the foreseeable future until Riot finally figures out the conundrum plaguing their work.