Exactly one year after Riot Games released its squad-based hero shooter, Valorant, the video game development studio that made its name first by developing the hit MOBA, League of Legends, is eyeing an expansion to Valorant. On June 2, Wednesday, Riot announced that Valorant mobile was coming. The best part? There won’t be cross-play. Valorant Mobile will be a stand-alone title for iOS and Android devices.
When is Valorant Mobile Coming?
At the moment, Valorant is a Windows PC exclusive. It’s currently not available on consoles, nor Macs or mobile platforms. However, the introduction of Valorant Mobile is going to change that by introducing the game to “more players around the world”. Similar to what it did with League of Legends by releasing League of Legends: Wild Rift, Riot wants to create an entire separate gaming ecosystem for Valorant with Valorant mobile. Unfortunately, outside of an announcement and confirming that Valorant is in the works, Riot did not reveal a release date. Until then, fans can only speculate and wait for its release. But, if it’s any consolation, it didn’t take Riot longer than a year from announcing Wild Rift to do a limited launch of the mobile title before releasing the game worldwide in 2021. With that said, Valorant players can take the time to celebrate the first anniversary of the game. Riot promises that the entire month of June will be a “month-long celebration for Valorant players and fans”. It’s safe to expect that Riot will be giving away in-game rewards for players who will tune in and participate in the events to come.
What’s Next for Riot Games?
Riot has spent the last couple of years expanding its library of titles. For years, all Riot had was League of Legends. Fast forward to 2021 and Riot has released Teamfight Tactics (2019), Legends of Runeterra (2020), and Valorant (2020), among others. In addition to this, Riot is working on multiple video game projects, including the unnamed MMO based on the League of Legends universe. Speaking of League of Legends, Riot has also stepped up its efforts towards becoming more than just a video game company. Earlier this year, Riot confirmed that the League of Legends anime will finally release on Netflix this 2021. Eagle-eyed observers also noticed Riot putting up job listings regarding work on a cinematic universe based on League of Legends. TLDR; Riot has been busy so far. Considering that Valve has also stepped up its efforts with Dota 2, with a Book 2 for Dota: Dragon’s Blood confirmed, the decade-old rivalry between Riot and Valve might just carry over well into the 2020s.
