VALORANT dev on premades in ranked: “If players have a group of teammates they perform well with, we don’t want to discourage them”

Riot weighed in on the premades-vs-solo debate today.

VALORANT product manager Ian Fielding addressed premade groups in ranked queues in a blog post. The dev explained that it’s important for competitive matchmaking in the tactical shooter to be “focused on teamplay,” opting not to “discourage” players who group up with friends.

“Having a solo queue can easily lead to that becoming the definitive test of someone’s skills and the primary way to play competitively,” Fielding said. “We’ve opted instead to allow players to play at any team size they prefer.”

This would also encourage players to find good teammates and run competitive matches together.

Many players feel that jumping into ranked mode alone is dangerous because you could match up against premade groups who will likely perform better than a squad of randoms. TSM streamer Myth echoed these sentiments, claiming that if you’re solo queuing in VALORANT, “you’re sabotaging your own rank.”

To address that issue, matchmaking will place those soloing or playing in smaller groups with others in similar premade team sizes, Fielding says. And squads in a five-player queue should be placed in matches with other premades.

With VALORANT in its closed beta, ranked matchmaking is still being improved. Next on the list for Riot is to make queuing with friends during placements easier and better clarity for rank icons.