Riot Games announces that it will officially end support for Valorant on older versions of Microsoft Windows in March, citing “security reasons”. The competitive FPS game, which uses Riot’s custom Vanguard security software, is losing Valorant support on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 versions as Riot Games aims to crack down on cheaters.
In a post on its official Twitter account, Riot Games confirms that Starting March 14, Valorant and Vanguard will stop supporting Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 for security reasons. Riot explains, “By switching support to the latest version of Windows, we can take advantage of the latest features and security fixes, which makes things harder for cheaters.”
It’s always a bit sad to see support for older versions of Windows drop. Since Microsoft previously offered free upgrades to Windows 10, and this edition was released to the public in July 2015, it’s likely that the vast majority of active gamers are already using Windows 11 (or an alternative operating system like Linux). ). However, for those stuck on older systems, this is one more thing they are lose access A.
The Riot Vanguard software has been criticized as one of many anti-cheat measures that uses kernel-level access, a particularly high level of privilege that gives you access to almost everything on your system. Riot argues that this is necessary for modern anti-cheat, due to the number of cheaters who are willing to run cheat programs that use a similar level of system access privileges.
Meanwhile, Valorant patch 6.03 sees nerfs to Killjoy and Raze, the hero shooter’s recent poster couple. Riot is also teasing new Valorant Operators for 2023, with plenty of speculation that a new Valorant class could be on the way.
There’s still time to participate in the current Valorant Night Market before it ends, so don’t miss it. Take a look at our Valorant tier list to see the most powerful Operators right now, and check out Valorant’s system requirements if this news has you looking for an upgrade for your own machine.