The Closed Beta of Valorant is over and many previously banned cheaters were already looking forward to a restart. But Riot shows no mercy and many bans are still active. It doesn’t help to complain to the Riot boss on Twitter.
What was going on with the cheaters? Riot absolutely does not want cheaters ruining their game Valorant. Therefore, a highly controversial anti-cheat program was implemented during the beta, which is basically always active and starts right from the system launch.
Those caught cheating receive permanent hardware bans and cannot log into the game even with new accounts. Thousands of cheaters were caught during the beta. Many of them then whined inundignified manners in the forums, claiming they had “done nothing”.
However, Riot promised in a statement that they might lift some bans upon the release of Valorant.
Riot grants no blanket pardon
Were the cheaters unbanned at the start? Indeed, many cheaters were eagerly looking forward to getting started again in the release version. But for some of them, the fun was short-lived.
Some cheaters couldn’t even get into the game or were immediately affected by a hardware ban after just a few rounds. As expected, they once again cried out in prominent cheater forums and lamented their fate:
- “I didn’t even use free cheats for long and I’m still banned, man, that really sucks!”
- “I got banned again after 10 rounds in Created mode!”
- “I don’t understand why I still have the hardware ban. I thought the bans would be lifted at release? I wasn’t even part of the first wave of bans!”
Riot CEO shows no mercy: A particularly brazen cheater even reached out to Nicolo Laurent, the CEO of Riot, in his desperation. In a tweet, he asked the boss to please lift the ban. He had only cheated a little bit and was really looking forward to being able to play again after the release.
But the boss had no sympathy for that. In a brief response, he simply stated: “Sorry, no second chance for cheaters!”
Was anyone even unbanned? Indeed, many of the banned cheaters are wondering if Riot ever unbanned anyone. Matt Paoletti, an anti-cheat developer at Riot, commented on this:
Those who tested the tools a few times have been spared, as we said. But the regular users of free cheats and users of paid cheats remain indefinitely affected by the hardware ban.
So it seems that cheaters will have to do without Valorant indefinitely. But even those allowed to play Valorant have something to complain about. Because battle pass rewards are currently affected by bugs. Riot Games has now commented on the issue and explained the problem and the solution.
