Valorant dev shuts down Shroud’s ‘Losers Queue’ theory

A Valorant dev has shut down Michael ‘shroud‘ Grzesiek’s theory regarding Riot Games purposely having a “Losers Queue” which tries to keep players on the game.

The idea of a “losers queue” isn’t exactly a new concept. With the goal of keeping you hooked for as long as possible, some players believe you’re purposely placed into a lobby with others that have also lost their previous matches to give you better odds of winning.

While there’s no proof of such thing existing, it can certainly sometimes feel like it. If you’re a gamer who keeps chasing the win all night, it may feel as if the lobbies are getting easier with each soul-crushing defeat.

However, a Riot Games dev has confirmed to the community that the idea of a “losers queue” in Valorant is simply just a myth after shroud discussed the theory on stream.

Valorant dev shuts down ‘Losers Queue’ claims

During a recent broadcast, shroud caught wind of the losers queue theory through his chat. While he was reluctant to believe at first, the 28-year-old streamer came round to the idea.

“That makes a lot of sense actually,” shroud said, before asking his teammates if they’d lost their previous game. Further supporting the idea, they all did, leaving shroud absolutely puzzled as he did as well.

However, according to Valorant’s Senior Competitive Designer Jon ‘EvrMoar’ Walker, losers queue isn’t actually a thing. “Game analytics, for every game I’ve worked on, has shown ‘losing matches consecutively is one of the main reasons players quit’; because of this reason, there is no ‘Losers Queue’ in Valorant,” the dev said.

He continued in a thread: “The rumor is that we are trying to get you addicted, to get you to play more. I personally do not think this is good for the game, but it also does not meet our goals of just wanting to make a great game,” EvrMoar explained.

“It would be in our best interest to actually make sure you win a game after starting to lose streak, which is why you see mobile games put you into bot matches if you lose a ton. I don’t have an answer as to why it might feel like ‘Losers Queue”‘ is real sorry.

“To finish this out, we do not manipulate queue. It’s very straightforward and just tries to find two teams that provide a 50:50 chance of either team winning and pitting them against each other. Research shows fair matchmaking keeps players, not unfair manipulated matchmaking.”

While many are still unconvinced, we’ve heard it from the source themselves. We may never know why it feels like losers queue exists, but rest assured its all just a myth.