The Valorant Ignition Series may have served as a solid foundation for the title’s burgeoning eSports scene, but the community outcried its poor spectating tools.
As a response, Riot acknowledged the need for better controls and even presented a list of features they want to implement in the game soon.
Enhanced spectating tools?
Kasra Jafroodi, Valorant Esports Strategy Lead, spoke about the planned improved spectator features for tournament organizers (TOs) to use in the next upcoming competitions.
With Riot preparing for their self-ran tournament named First Strike in late October, the devs will now enable event spectators to have more access in following the action seamlessly.
The global tournament will create opportunities for Valorant players from around the world to rise through the ranks and be crowned as regional champions.
Currently, more players continue to pour in the 5v5 tactical shooter. The fan interest didn’t seem to dwindle since the game’s beta stage, where Riot claims nearly three million people played the beta daily on average.
There is no stop in sight for the massive growth of Valorant esports, and Riot only wants to build on the momentum and improve the current system from the recent Ignition Series.
Jafroodi admits to witnessing some rough patches in the early tournaments way back to the game’s beta. Now, they have narrowed down key ways to improve the viewing experience in the online Valorant competitive scene.
Key features
To date, there are a number of features that Valorant could use both in the game’s casual and competitive plays.
But in particular, the professional Esports teams are pointing out what Valorant currently lacks— with regards to spectating competitive events.
Jafroodi stated during a Do Not Peek’s Valoranting podcast that the devs wants to implement the following features into Valorant:
- Control panel for observers
- More observer slots
- Cinematic cameras
- Stable camera positions, presets
- Team colors that affect abilities
- Round reset
However, no timetable was detailed to determine when these features head over to Riot’s tactical 5v5 shooter.
Riot also wants to “lean on the API (application programming interface)” for solo organizers to form improved Broadcast UI elements, like economy trackers, equipment displays for each player, and more.
Majority of the features that the Riot representative detailed in the podcast deals with how tournaments are viewed and the visual queues they have, with the exception of the round reset.
Even without the official implementation of these features in the game yet, the planned enhanced spectating tools appears to be valuable tools for Valorant tournament organizers.
Moreover, the new features will greatly impact how the events bolster Valorant’s competitive integrity.
A round reset, in particular, can help hinder issues from disconnects, equipment malfunction, or other possible system issues in an online set-up.
Valorant is gradually building its strong presence in the competitive eSports scene, but now it’s on Riot to improve the game not just for its players and participants but for its viewers and event organizers.
Riot is particularly known to implement grand esports fixes on League of Legends, hence it’s likely for them to implement the same genius on Valorant.
