Riot reveals new plans for Valorant’s “invasive” 24/7 anti-cheat program

Valorant’s anti-cheat approach has been the source of much controversy since the Closed Beta launched, but Riot Games is now making its “invasive” system much more flexible.

Since the release of the Closed Beta on April 7, select regions have been jumping into Riot’s new game and growing familiar with the record-shattering first-person shooter. The new title instantly deploys a new anti-cheat program referred to as ‘Vanguard,’ however, and fans have been less than pleased.

This program remains running even when you’re not playing the game. After a great deal of criticism, Riot has implemented a new change that allows players to bypass the 24/7 anti-cheat measure.

Changes coming to Valorant’s Vanguard system

The next time that you open Valorant, the Vanguard system will appear with an icon in your computer’s system tray. Thanks to this visible icon, you’ll now be able to shut the program down with greater ease than before. 

Simply right-clicking the icon will allow you to disable the feature. Players now also have the option to outright uninstall Vanguard every time they close the game as well. Upon reopening the title, the anti-cheat system will automatically be reinstalled.

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This provides much more flexibility than before, where the system would be constantly running in the background. Deemed as “deeply invasive” by the community, these new measures should give players a little more peace of mind knowing that the system can be removed while not playing the game.

Addressing Valorant anti-cheat concern.

Upon introducing the new options, Riot Games Senior Software Engineer Nemi, outlined how “Vanguard will be able to provide better competitive integrity and a more secure environment for all players.”

“We want to operate at the highest possible standard for our players so they never have to question whether or not they lost to a cheater,” he said. “In order to do that, we’re going to operate at the cutting edge for anti-cheat on Valorant.”

While always having a system running in the background, even when Valorant isn’t open, has clearly left a bitter taste in the community, Riot appears adamant that it is necessary. These new options to disable the system should alleviate some of the concern.

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“We’re not selling your data to China,” the developer jokingly concluded, addressing one of the more prominent theories due to Riot’s Tencent ownership.

A secondary measure, similar to the likes of CSGO’s Overwatch feature, is supposedly coming to Valorant once the game has released. Further bolstering the anti-cheat systems in place. 

For the time being though, devious players already managed to find a way through the current Vanguard program just two days into the beta.