Valorant has proved immensely popular since it launched in 2020, but players want to know if and when the game is arriving on consoles
Valorant first launched back in June 2020, and took gamers by storm by blending the tactical gameplay of Counter Strike with hero shooters like Overwatch. Ever since the game launched, the biggest question has always been whether or not the game will arrive on consoles. While previous Riot Games-developed titles like League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics have never arrived on consoles, Valorant being a FPS makes things far easier to transfer to consoles than a MOBA like League of Legends.
While exclusively available through the PC version, Riot Games partnered up with Xbox Game Pass last year, giving players some exclusive unlocks for its suite of games, including access to all Champions in League Of Legends, and all Agents in Valorant. While this doesn't confirm anything about a potential console version of the game, Riot Games' existing partnership with Microsoft is worth noting.
Will Valorant come to consoles
While there's been no formal announcement of a console version of Valorant, it has been confirmed to be in the works by Riot Games. Our first confirmation came late last year when a job listing on Hitmarker was posted for a 'Senior Game Designer, Console' and specifically mentioned Valorant, with the job description stating that applicants responsibilities would require them to "Design and refine features, modes, and systems to help bring console game products to market".
Less than a month later, during the Valorant 2023 kick off dev diary, Valorant Executive Producer Anna Donlon said that Riot is continuing work on "bringing Valorant to new platforms" before adding "it's going slower than we'd hoped" before assuring players that the development team wants to get it right.
Obviously, no platforms have been announced, but it's probably safe to assume the game will arrive on PlayStation and Xbox (especially with the aforementioned Riot Games Xbox Game Pass partnership). A Nintendo Switch version seems a little less likely, but if Overwatch managed it, maybe Valorant can too.
When will Valorant come to consoles
Since there's never been a formal announcement of Valorant on consoles, (and by extension, a release date) it's hard to even speculate when Valorant will arrive on consoles. However, based on Anna Donlon's comments about development progressing slower than the team had hoped, we think it's safe to assume the console version of Valorant most likely will not arrive until at least 2024.
Again this is pure speculation, and we'd love to be proven wrong, but we're not getting our hopes up for a 2023 release.
