CS:GO, Overwatch and Rainbow 6: Siege fans are probably waking up to the news that Valorant, Riot’s stylised shooter that wants to thread the needle between those games, is having a hugely successful closed beta. There’s just one problem: Australians won’t get access for a while.
Update 16/04: Australians won’t be officially added to the Valorant beta for a while, but if you’re impatient and don’t mind a high ping, here’s how you can join the fun:
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/04/valorant-beta-key-australia-how-to-get-access/” thumb=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/04/valorant-background-1-410×231.jpg” title=”How Australians Can Get Into The Valorant Beta” excerpt=”Australia hasn’t been officially added to Riot’s closed beta for Valorant. But does that mean Aussies can’t gatecrash the party? Of course not. So if you’re happy playing competitive shooters with a ping disadvantage, here’s how to get into the beta.”]
Update 15/04: A blog post from the Valorant devs confirms that Latin America, Korea and Brazil will be the next regions added to the game’s closed beta, meaning Australia is even further back in the queue. On the plus side, a video from two members of the technical team showed that Australia has a point of connect in the Riot Direct system, which is effectively what Riot’s plans to create a tier one internet became.
Riot Games announced this morning that the first closed beta for their 5v5 competitive shooter would kick off from April 7 internationally. In typical Riot style, it’s an influencer-driven closed beta: for regular players to gain access, you have to watch others play the game first, and if you have your Twitch account linked to your Riot account, then you might get entry.
But entry will only be for players in the US, Canada, Europe, Russia and Turkey. Access for Australia – or Oceania/OCE – isn’t included in the current beta, and in a statement, the executive producer for Valorant explained the limited release.
“Our plan was to bring the VALORANT Closed Beta to as many players around the world as quickly as possible, but the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted those plans, compromising a wider global rollout,” executive producer Anna Donlan said. “For now, we have to focus on the regions where we feel most ready, with more regions following in the months to come. We want to engage with players as globally as possible as quickly as possible, and so we’ll ramp up our player count as much as we can to test our infrastructure, but we won’t be letting everyone playtest VALORANT until we’re absolutely sure we can handle it in this newly uncertain environment.”
The game is still aiming for a winter release, and more regions will be added to the VALORANT closed beta from April onwards. Australia will be supported eventually. Riot has invested tons in server infrastructure locally, and given Australia’s penchant for first-person shooters like Call of Duty, Counter-Strike and Rainbow 6 Siege, both historically and from an esports perspective, it’s only a matter of time before Aussies get added.
But that access won’t arrive when the closed beta first launches on April 8 our time. Still, you can try and weasel your way in by making a new Riot account, setting the region to the US and linking that to a dummy Twitch account if you really wanted. You’d be playing on 200+ ping, but rolling Americans on their own servers is a completely legitimate form of entertainment. Especially in competitive games.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/07/aussie-qualifies-for-quake-champions-regional-with-200-ping/” thumb=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/03/quake-champions-anarki-410×231.jpg” title=”Aussie Qualifies For Quake Champions Regional With 200+ Ping” excerpt=”Quake is a hard enough game as is, and that’s with a good ping. Now imagine playing in an international qualifier for a $US1 million tournament on 200+ ping.”]
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/08/aussie-qualifies-for-quake-world-championships-with-272-ping/” thumb=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/08/apGmcHjqv2_NMqRcor1s7be0JEYcdtgzFeKlgdf0eY41-410×231.png” title=”Aussie Qualifies For Quake World Championships With 272 Ping” excerpt=”Remember the Aussie who forced his way through an online Quake Champions qualifier on crappy ping? Well there was a second round of qualifiers for the Quake World Championships over the weekend, and despite having an atrocious ping yet again, that didn’t stop Daniel “dandaking” De Sousa from carving some Americans up. Again.”]
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/03/valorant-riot-games-project-a-screenshots/” thumb=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/03/ESC3MskW4AksaM41-410×231.png” title=”More Screenshots From Riot’s Valorant Appears” excerpt=”It’s leaking season. Despite a supposed embargo lifting later tonight for Riot’s CS:GO competitor, Project A, a ton of screenshots have found their way around the internet, along with a trademark listing revealing the potential name: Valorant.”]
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