Even more game modes could soon be on the way to Valorant as developers at Riot Games have teased a number of experiments currently in the works, including a potential 3v3 mode.
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With Escalation having just launched on February 16, Valorant has now seen a total of six game modes since release. While some are permanent fixtures, others have come and gone in limited-time playlists.
It’s clear Riot are open to all kinds of new modes and the future appears bright in that regard. During a recent AMA on Reddit, the Valorant developers revealed some of their future plans, including experimenting with team sizes and game lengths to make new experiences for players.
Bite-sized Valorant modes in the works
One of the biggest talking points throughout the questionnaire was that of shorter game modes. While players enjoy the core Plant & Defuse game type, many wish to see quicker versions in Valorant.
“This is definitely something we’ve considered,” developer Jared ‘Darkhorse4Life’ Berbach told players. “There’s definitely a desire for a shorter form of the standard game mode. Nothing concrete to announce here as of yet, but stay tuned!
While there’s no set timeline for such a mode, Riot has big plans for it, fellow dev Lisa ‘Pwneride’ Ohanian confirmed.
“We see there’s a desire for an authentic, core Valorant experience that is shorter than our main game mode, and we’re actively having a lot of convos about the best way to achieve this in a way that feels good.”
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Experimenting with team sizes in Valorant
With the current modes on offer, team sizes are rather limited. Standard playlists focus on strict 5v5 gameplay, while DM is set to FFA-only. That trend could soon be changing, however.
Riot has prototyped modes with different sizes, including 3v3 and 7v7. While they have “nothing concrete” to announce, they’re open to change.
It turns out they even tried 7v7 gameplay for Escalation. “Some people really liked it,” Kyle ‘tehleach’ Leach said, but it was too complicated to ship.
“The reason we ended up shipping 5v5 was mainly due to party sizes.” As a result of seven-player teams, you would be forced into playing with randoms due to the max party size of five.
“If we wanted to allow people to queue as [a seven stack], there would be a ton of client work to do and it would have caused us to delay this mode.”
No dates and no exact details are set in stone just yet, though Riot is always experimenting with ways to innovate in Valorant. New permanent fixtures could be right around the corner, so keep your eyes peeled.
