Riot looking into several new tools for Valorant to improve spectating
Riot Games[jwplayer PnhLAMEj]
The early phases of the Valorant Ignition Series have been great in most regards but severely jarring in a major way: poor spectating tools. Riot has noted the need for better controls and features in the past, and have an extensive list they want to see in their game soon.
Valorant Esports Strategy Lead, Kasra Jafroodi spoke with Do Not Peek’s Valoranting podcast about these enhanced features for observers that tournament organizers (TOs) could utilize in the future.
As Riot prepares for their own tournament late in October called First Strike, they’re giving event spectators more weapons in their arsenal to follow the action.
Jafroodi admittedly saw rough patches in the very early tourneys dating back to the beta, and is targeting key ways to improve the viewing experience in the online era.
Riot GamesWhile there are many features that Valorant desperately needs, the Esports teams are ironing out the deficiencies they see as it pertains to consuming competitive events.
Jafroodi indicated that Riot wants to bring the following into Valorant, although no timetable was given:
- Control panel for observers
- More observer slots
- Cinematic cameras
- Stable camera positions, presets
- Team colors that affect abilities
- Round reset
On top of this, Riot wants to “lean on the API (application programming interface)” for individual organizers to build better Broadcast UI elements, such as economy trackers, equipment displays for every player, and the like.
Almost all of the features that the Riot rep noted deals a lot with how tournaments are seen and the visual queues they each have, except for the round reset.
While this will inevitably be a valuable tool for TOs, this feature will directly impact the ability for events to bolster its competitive integrity. A round reset will help stymie issues from disconnects, equipment malfunction, or other miscellaneous problems that presents itself in an online era.
Valorant is off to a great start as a competitive landscape, but now it’s on Riot to build up the game in a meaningful way to supplement how the game is watched.
This isn’t an impossible feat for a company that prides itself on its grand esports solutions in League of Legends; now it’s time to apply that innovation to Valorant.