Highlights

  • Valorant is cracking down on toxicity with new policies and measures, including expanded voice chat monitoring and an increase in manual reviews.
  • Riot Games also suggested that the developer would be rolling out improvements to its punishments for the game's most toxic players.
  • Valorant has already introduced some new anti-toxicity elements to the game in the 8.10 update, with new notifications about penalized users and improvements to text filtering.

Riot Games is ramping up their efforts to combat toxicity within Valorant, rolling out new policies and methods for dealing with the game's most unsavory players. The massively popular shooter from the League of Legends developer has stood as one of the biggest competitive titles in gaming since its original launch in 2020. Valorant boasts a robust esports scene, with a total playerbase of tens of millions of players and last year's "Valorant Champions" tournament featuring a prize pool of greater than $2 million. However, the game also sports a particular issue that Riot is looking to address.

Player toxicity has been a longstanding issue for many competitive online games, one that isn't exclusive to Valorant. Games like Helldivers 2 and League of Legends have often dealt with toxic players as a major issue hampering the game's online scene, especially as a game grows in popularity. Valorant even previously confirmed that Riot Games would be recording in-game voice chats, in an effort to combat toxicity in the shooter. Now, Riot Games is stepping up to address the growing toxicity in Valorant.

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A new update shared through Valorant's social media channels details Riot Games' renewed efforts to combat in-game toxicity. According to the post, Riot is planning to "finalize updates" to its existing policies within the next month in order to better execute on more severe penalties. The developer will be offering more manual reviews for in-game toxicity, along with expanding the previously mentioned voice chat monitoring. Riot also introduced some new features in Valorant's systems in the 8.10 update, including feedback for other players in a penalized user's match and improved text filtering.

Riot Games Increasing Anti-Toxicity Measures in Valorant

Valorant's campaign against in-game toxicity comes as the competitive shooter remains one of the most popular online games. A report from earlier this month revealed that Valorant sits within the top 10 highest-grossing games across both consoles and PC, alongside smash hits like Fortnite and Palworld. Other popular games like the previously-mentioned Helldivers 2 have also addressed increased toxicity, with Arrowhead Studios encouraging self-moderation and open communication from fans.

Valorant's 8.10 patch arrived as the game approaches the launch of its ninth competitive season. Valorant's "Episode 9" is currently expected to launch in late June, with no confirmation on whether the seasonal update will introduce a new Agent or map to the game. The launch of Valorant's Version 8.5 in March brought the newest playable Agent to the shooter's roster, with the introduction of new Controller Clove. An increased focus on anti-toxicity measures looks to make Valorant a safer and more enjoyable place for all of its players.