Valorant players from Middle East and North Africa can expect a better in-game connection starting in Act III, as Riot adds an exclusive MENA region server.
MENA region players are located in countries such as Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemen.
Poor connection
Valorant players from the MENA region have long since struggled with poor connection since the game’s launch.
The popular Riot title does not have complete servers across the world yet, hence many players outside the available in-game regions are increasingly complaining about high ping and an unstable connection while in play due to being put on a different server.
However, Riot wants to address the problem by launching a new data center to cater to players in these specific regions.
Anna Donlon, VALORANT executive producer, announced a new VALORANT data center in Bahrain. This will then help players in the Middle East and North Africa have a more stable in-game ping when playing the 5v5 tactical shooter.
This should decrease a potential slight delay towards in-game actions, which can give the enemy team an unfair advantage.
The data center will go live at the start of Act III on 13th October, allowing players to get onto Riot Direct and present a more “competitive, direct connection to the VALORANT servers.”
The announcement has been confirmed in an official tweet:
“The ping goes down & the connection stays up.
Dedicated servers come to the Middle East tomorrow.”
She talked about the current state of in-game servers and the upcoming addition of the Middle East and North Africa servers.
The addition of these servers are rather overdue, since it took a lot longer than expected because of how COVID-19 caused several events or features to be handled in a different way, or postponed— especially in the gaming industry.
Players from the MENA region can expect to benefit from a lower ping, offering a much more improved in-game experience once it goes live upon the new Act.
Additionally, Donlon confirmed that Riot Games has built a local office in Dubai. This will help the company establish a stronger, more-established community presence in the MENA region.
Arabic language support for the game will also be provided. The new servers will be hosted in Bahrain and Arabic language support.
Riot already stated its plans to make VALORANT more engaging for players in the MENA region, as they are “exploring ways of enhancing the player experience for the North Africa and Levant market.”
First Strike
The new update will allow MENA region players to participate in the upcoming Valorant First-Strike tournament, a self-ran tournament by Riot.
The tournament will take place across the globe and allow players from high skill-points to compete.
For the first time ever, players from the MENA region will be able to participate in their global esports program for a chance to represent their region in the growing Valorant esports scene.
At the end of October, all players will be treated to a MENA-inspired gun buddy (golden pitcher-like) in celebration of the region joining the VALORANT community.
Other players across the world are still waiting for dedicated servers in their regions. However, the announcement of a new MENA server proves that Riot is taking a step towards the right direction to improve the general in-game experience of global players.
Which region would you like to see have an exclusive Valorant server next?
