As the release date of VALORANT inches closer, more details continue to emerge about Riot Games’ newest competitive tactical FPS. Details about ranked play were recently revealed and the new addition to the game (still in closed-beta) should be going live in possibly the next few weeks. There is a lot to love about the game which provides hours of fun combined with a top-tier competitive experience. A lot of questions still remain, though, including if players can play with others from different regions.
Players of VALORANT might want to play in different regions for a handful of reasons. Maybe they are looking for a change of pace and different opponents to go against. Another reason could be friends from different regions hoping to play the game together. Unfortunately, VALORANT currently has a region lock in place meaning players from North America won’t be able to play with others from Europe or any other part of the world and vice-versa.
It’s unclear if this will be a permanent thing for VALORANT but it sure is possible. League of Legends, Riot Games’ other extremely popular competitive game is also region locked. World-wide play runs into a number of problems including drastically different levels of pings due to the varying distances from online servers and such. Regions just make more sense on a competitive level but that doesn’t deter from the fact, cross-region play could help elevate the game for those wanting to play with others around the world.
There are somethings players can do to get around the region-lock including a VPN and creating a new Riot Account. It’s not easy, but for those looking to play with other regions might be willing to give it a try. Officially, though, VALORANT does not allow players to play with others from different regions.
