Riot to deploy VALORANT auto-ban systems at launch

VALORANT is scheduled to launch on June 2 with sweeping changes to Riot’s controversial anti-cheat detection systems.

Over the course of the closed beta, the developers manually banned thousands of cheaters but neglected to use Vanguard’s auto-banning systems. This will be different at launch, according to Riot.

Before implementing the auto-ban systems, Riot’s dedicated team of engineers needed to fully understand what to take action on—especially in the case of hardware bans. 

“With VALORANT being the grand unveiling of Vanguard, we’ve gotten a lot of inputs that help us understand what cheats—and forms of cheating—we can effectively deter with the platform,” Riot said in a developer’s post. “But during closed beta, we’ve held off on deploying the second half of our tech, our auto-banning systems.”

Up until this point, Riot had been able to track cheaters by identifying inputs and manually banning players based on reviews by the anti-cheat team. Across all regions, including North America, Europe, Brazil, and Korea, almost 10,000 cheaters have been banned.

When VALORANT officially launches, however, Riot intends to be more aggressive with its approach to cheaters. It plans to use widespread and automated systems to detect and ban players. 

“As with any game, our guarantee isn’t that VALORANT will be cheat free, it’s that our commitment to anti-cheat doesn’t end when you forget about it,” Riot said.