VALORANT game director discusses console port and casual social spaces

VALORANT launched just a little over three months ago, on June 2nd, 2020. Since then, we have seen an incredible rise in the title’s player count, fanbase, and competitive environment, while the exponential viewership growth for esports tournaments proves it is on the right track to success. Riot Games have always been transparent with their communication, whether it’s adding new agents and maps and why they even design them to explaining to the general public how the title’s servers and hit registration work.

In a recent interview with US Gamer, VALORANT’s Game Director Joe Ziegler answered a couple of interesting questions regarding what the future holds for the title. We already know the studio is planning to bring their tactical shooter experience to consoles, and they clarified as to what is holding them back and the challenges that come with it. He clarified that the team wants to make sure they get it right and produce an enjoyable experience on console platforms before anything else.

“I think a naive way would be, 'Oh, let's just port it over and hope it works’, but we have teams that are working on it right now that are very much focused on the idea of, if we take these concepts and bring them to other platforms, do they even work? Is the game even enjoyable on those platforms?,” said Joe Ziegler.

Ziegler continued to discuss how VALORANT currently sometimes takes its toll on the players, with its competitive environment and always putting players on edge. He commented on the matter, and the efforts being done by the developers to produce a more casual “social space” for those who love the game to just hop on and unwind instead of stressing over launching VALORANT, even if it was for an unranked match.

“What we are looking at right now is like, how do we flesh out that ecosystem even further in the future. Areas where groups can warm up together, hang out, or have some ‘social downtime’ are all on the VALORANT team's mind for further mode development.”

“Those are the spaces that I think we're going to continue see growing around Valorant is, more tools to help you compete, but also more tools to actually help you just a live a more full life inside of VALORANT, as opposed to very stressful competitive games back-to-back,” explained Joe Ziegler.

There is definitely room for improvement in the casual experience VALORANT has to offer, where players can just start the game and play more entertaining modes, including the likes of Deathmatch and Spike Rush, all while focusing on making sure the competitive environment is continuously improved, with the much requested ranked ladder changes. There is no denying that VALORANT will probably be a completely different game a year from now, and who knows what additional platforms it will be available on.

What do you think would encourage more casual players to try out VALORANT? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!