In a welcome Friday surprise, Riot Games brought its popular online FPS, Valorant, to consoles. The release for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles ends four years of PC exclusivity, and comes just a month after the free-to-play title entered a console beta.
But if you were concerned about the sheer number of free-to-play shooters available, and the increasing number of hero shooters either available or upcoming, then know that Riot sees things differently. Because while Valorant has many elements of a hero shooter, like Overwatch, its creators believe it's something else entirely. One that "scratches a different itch," compared to other titles.
In an exclusive interview with GamesRadar+, Riot Games' director of production and product lead for Valorant, Arnar Hrafn Gylfason, shared why exactly the company believes Valorant can stand out all these years later. First and foremost, Riot doesn't subscribe to the idea that Valorant is a hero shooter. "We don't think of [Valorant] as a hero shooter," Gylfason said.
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