Valorant, Riot’s team-based shooter, is launching early on June 2

By Paul Squire Published May 21, 2020

Valorant is getting an early launch next month.

Riot Games’ team-based shooter, which has been in closed beta since early April, will premiere on June 2, just ahead of its planned summer 2020 launch date, Valorant developers announced Thursday.

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“We’ve been looking forward to sharing this game with everyone,” Game director Joe Ziegler said. “We’ve been wanting to get you this game to help brighten these tough times.”

Anna Donlon, Valorant executive producer, said the team hopes to support the game for “years, or even decades, to come.”

It's @RiotSuperCakes and @RiotZiegler back with an important update on the future of VALORANT. pic.twitter.com/qGZfv3DWEb

— VALORANT (@VALORANT) May 21, 2020

The game is a mix of elements of competitive shooters like Overwatch, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and, of course, Riot Games’ biggest hit, League of Legends. Valorant features a 5v5 multiplayer mode where one team of unique characters with special abilities attacks and the other defends.

Valorant’s closed beta is set to wrap up on May 28.

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I’m finally turning into a Valorant fan thanks to its Xbox port

Key art for Valorant on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Although I've followed and played a bit of Valorant over the years as I've covered it, I've never fully taken the plunge and gotten into Riot Games' intense hero shooter competitively. I simply don't like playing first-person shooters on PC. I understand that's a somewhat odd take because using a mouse and keyboard gives players such precise control, but I grew up playing Call of Duty games on a console rather than a PC. I could take the time to really learn and get used to mouse-and-keyboard controls for a game like Valorant, but it's so competitive, and proper teamwork is such a critical factor that it is too intimidating of a game to practice my PC skills in.

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