Valorant Launches on PS5 and Xbox Series X: What Console Players Need to Know

Riot Games has officially released its free-to-play hero shooter, Valorant, for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X in the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, and Brazil. This announcement came as a surprise, as despite Valorant having a limited beta period on consoles starting in mid-June, no official release date had been set.

Arnar Gylfason, the game's production director, stated in a press release that console and PC players will receive the same title updates, patches, and balance adjustments in the future, along with premium content like new characters and other live service features. However, multiplayer will remain separate for consoles and PC to maintain "competitive integrity," meaning gamepad players will matchmake among themselves, and PC will remain a keyboard-and-mouse game.

Other games with cross-platform play, particularly shooters, have faced issues with keyboard-and-mouse users having a significant advantage over gamepad players. Therefore, in addition to not enabling PC/console cross-play, the PC version of Valorant will not receive controller support.

Valorant is Riot Games' second game. Indeed, it is only their second. The studio, known for the success of its core franchise League of Legends (launched in 2009 with a prominent esports presence), released Valorant for PC in 2020.

Console players will get an exclusive feature in Valorant. In addition to the console launch, the game will introduce a balance tweak specifically for gamepads that makes hip-firing a bit easier. This feature, called Focus, "behaves essentially like hip-fire, but with reduced sensitivity," Gylfason explained. "This way, players can use hip-fire whenever they need speed in moving their camera/aim, but utilize focus mode whenever they need precision."

"This also approximates the shooting mechanic to what console players are used to in shooters, all of this without losing the added value Valorant’s aim down sights provides," Gylfason added.

The free-to-play game is now available for download through both consoles' online marketplaces, and on PC, Valorant can be found exclusively on the Epic Games Store.