Riot’s 5v5 hero shooter Valorant has now entered open beta on consoles. Anyone playing on a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X|S can join the fun.
Before the announcement, the only way to play Valorant on console was through a closed beta that players needed to sign up for. In a series of posts made on the official Valorant X/Twitter account, the studio explained that console players won’t be able to play PC players. However, those on Xbox and PlayStation can join each other’s games.
There’ll also be shared cross-progression for PC and console, which will give players full access to everything they’ve purchased. All progress made towards the battle pass will count towards both platforms. Those who are subscribed to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will automatically unlock all agents. The open beta is currently only available in the United States, Canada, Europe, Brazil, and Japan.
Bringing Valorant to console did require a lot of work. As an Xbox Wire post explained, the standard way to shoot on PC was hip firing. This didn’t translate well when it came to console, so to combat this, Riot created Focus, a new type of shooting mode that acts like hip fire but with reduced sensitivity.
If you’re jumping into Valorant for the first time, check out our guide, which details everything you need to know about getting the upper hand.
