One little cheat and it's over. Riot Games has declared from the beginning there'll be no mercy for cheaters. With the specially designed anti-cheat software Vanguard, they are now taking a hard stand and the consequences could even expand beyond Valorant.
Is this the new age in the eternal war between game developers and cheaters? It's possible. Riot Games are slowly unfolding their full power in the fight against hackers. Cheaters who got their accounts banned would usually just go out and make a brand-new continuing with their practice. But that might be over now.
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Riot has created the so-called "Soulbans", which is really just a cooler name for hardware bans. This effectively makes it pointless to create a new account as the cheater's hardware will be tagged. Furthermore, at this stage of the game (closed beta) you would also need a new beta key for it. Over 8,000 hackers have already been removed from the beta, and the trend is rising.
Even though this is just closed beta, we've promised that we're going to be heavily committed to anti-cheat. This banwave is still only the beginning. We're going to ensure the highest standard of competitive integrity in VALORANT. https://t.co/EjxuYG0JEE
— Riot Vanguard (@RiotVanguard) May 12, 2020
The cries of the cheaters
"I spent so much money on this shit and now I'm gonna get banned? WTF?!?"
or
"GG Riot! I didn't even chat in real games, only five minutes in practice mode."
These are just a few of the comments that recorded cheaters responded with to their blocked accounts. Of course, it must be hard when you've only used cheating for two minutes in practice mode, so you don't sabotage a match and then still get banned. But then again why believe cheaters? What added value do hackers generate from two minutes of cheating in practice mode? That's right, none.
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And now all the hackers out there have to be extra cautious. Riot is thinking about extending the Soulbans to other games. This would mean that whoever cheated in Valorant would be banned from Valorant and all other Riot titles such as League of Legends (as long as there is an account there) and other upcoming Riot titles.
Suspensions are currently game-specific, though this policy could change at any time, for any reason.
— Detecc Philippe (@mirageopenguins) May 13, 2020
At the moment the Soulbans only apply to Valorant, but that could change at any time. It's nice to finally see some good come from Riot's Vanguard as the anti-cheat has caused quite a lot of controversy and numerous issues for both software and hardware.
- READ MORE: Valorant's Vanguard causing BIOS issues
A harsher punishment for cheaters is good because it makes the gaming experience of all non-hackers much more pleasant. Just fair play. If cheaters have to think twice before launching any malicious software that's already a win for everyone else. 1:0 for Riot Games.
All other news and updates about Valorant can be found on EarlyGame.
