Valorant Making Anti-Cheat Changes Following Major Ban Wave

Summary

• Valorant is combating cheaters with a new ranked rollback system. This reverses rank progression if a match is compromised by hackers.
• This aims to punish cheaters and ensure fair play for all Valorant players.
• Players who team with cheaters will retain their rank, preventing unfair penalties.

Valorant is implementing ranked rollbacks to tackle a recent surge in hackers. Valorant's anti-cheat lead has commented on the situation, warning cheaters of harsher penalties and explaining the new system.

Many online games struggle with cheaters seeking unfair advantages. While various anti-cheat strategies exist, cheaters consistently find ways to disrupt fair play. Despite Valorant's generally robust anti-cheat system, a recent increase in hacking has negatively impacted player experience. This has prompted Riot Games to take stronger action.

Riot Games' anti-cheat head, Phillip Koskinas, acknowledged the problem on Twitter, assuring players of active solutions. The new strategy includes ranked rollbacks: players lose rank if a match was lost due to cheating. Koskinas shared a graph showcasing the number of cheaters banned by Vanguard in January alone, peaking on January 13th.

Riot Games' Future Valorant Bans Will Include Ranked Rollbacks

Addressing concerns about players winning matches with cheaters on their team (unfair to both opponents and teammates), Koskinas clarified that teammates of hackers will keep their rank, while opponents will have theirs restored. While acknowledging potential inflationary effects, Koskinas expressed confidence in this approach.

Valorant's Vanguard system, utilizing kernel-level security, has proven highly effective in detecting and banning cheaters. Other games, like Call of Duty, have adopted similar systems. Despite past successes in driving out cheaters, they persistently find new ways to infiltrate.

Valorant has already banned thousands of players, offering hope to those frustrated by ranked matches affected by hackers. Riot Games' commitment to resolving this issue and curbing the recent wave of cheating is evident. The long-term effectiveness of the ranked rollback system remains to be seen.