Riot Games Says No Immediate Plans for a Replay Viewing System in Valorant

Riot Games posted a new Ask Valorant blog post and addressed some of the frequently asked questions (FAQs) of the player base. Multiple Valorant developers (devs) answered these questions in this particular QnA blog. Some of the questions were around a map pick and ban system, a gifting system like that in League of Legends, an in-game replay system, report feedback, and alternating skins while in-game.

Replay system in Valorant

An in-game replay system is something the Valorant community has been wanting and anticipating ever since the game was released. This would allow players to VOD-review previous matches and understand the gameplay better instead of manually recording every game.

In 2020, on the question of whether Valorant would get a replay system, the devs said, “Yes! this is something that we're interested in exploring soon. Whether it's to study previous matches for tactical advantages or to create spicy memes, we know that players will find a wide range of interesting uses for a system like this.”

Now, two years later, game production member Steven Eldredge confirmed, “The shortest answer today is that there is no plan for a player-facing version of a replay system, as of now.”

He added that Riot’s current exploration is on other features like ways to track and reward Agent progress, player behavior tools, and different ways to collect in-game items.

Notably, League of Legends has a replay system where players can download the game from their match history and view it on the game client, and go over all the elements and features, including enabling/disabling fog of war, look at individual player scores, items, and others.

Players have also been inquisitive about the increasing number of maps in the game and wondered if Valorant would introduce a map pick and ban system. Addressing this, Riot said that it is highly unlikely for it to appear in normal competitive matches.

Competitive designer Jon Walker said, “This is not something we're currently planning for regular Competitive queue play, because at this time we really want to reinforce learning how to play all maps (instead of always avoiding specific ones). That being said, we do believe a map pick/ban system is worth exploring in an environment fit for complex team strategizing like our planned tournament mode.”

Gifting System on the back burner

Gifting in Valorant was initially targeted to be out by the end of 2020 but it has still not been implemented. Riot Games stated that it is still excited about the idea as it was the first time it brought it up. However, due to the company prioritizing other things at the moment, the gifting system is on the back burner. “That being said, the work behind a potential system is currently in our backlog mostly due to prioritizing other in-game changes, as well as exploring more comprehensive ways to bring it to VALORANT. No timeline as of today,” added Product Manager Stephen Kraman.

Currently, players receive notifications if a player they reported for toxic text or voice comms gets penalized. But now players can look forward to receiving an in-game message when a player reported for going AFK gets punished. “We're working on this now! No exact date to share, but we’ll fix this so that if you report someone and they get punished, you will always receive a message,” confirmed the Social & Player Dynamics team.

Alternating skins on attack and defense

Players have been wanting the option to change their gun skins on attack and defense. The devs said they were exploring the feasibility of an idea like this but did not share a commitment to it. They added that there are other concepts in progress that could potentially compete with this idea in some way. The other reasons they stated are: “The team needs to first understand/test the limits of performance and memory so that you don't see any negative impacts in and out of the game. We would also need to consider making any potential updates to the collections page to properly showcase/support this in the current collections menu.”

Lastly, Creative Director David Nottingham shared that they were going to remain hyper-focused on the game and that there is still plenty that the team wants to do to keep expanding the lore of the Valorant universe. Hence, he asked fans not to expect anything right away along the lines of Arcane for Valorant.