VALORANT
Released by Riot Games in 2020, VALORANT is a free 5v5 tactical shooter played with agents who have special abilities; it shipped with Turkish text and voice-over and reached consoles in 2024.
VALORANT is a tactical shooter developed and published by Riot Games, the maker of League of Legends. Its closed beta opened on 7 April 2020 and it officially launched on PC on 2 June 2020. Riot describes it as a 5v5 tactical shooter played with agents who have special abilities.
The game combined Counter-Strike's long-established competitive formula with character abilities familiar from hero shooters, a mix that quickly made it one of the most talked-about games in the genre.
What is it?
Every match features two teams of five. Players choose from agents, each with unique abilities: some block sight lines with smoke, some reveal enemies with recon arrows, some heal teammates. Yet aim and team plans remain the deciding factors.
How is it played?
In a standard competitive match one team attacks and the other defends. Attackers try to plant a device called the Spike at designated sites while defenders try to stop them or defuse it. At the start of each round players spend credits on pistols, rifles, armour and abilities. According to Riot, matches are won by the first side to reach 13 rounds.
This economy forms the tactical layer: saving money by sacrificing a round or gambling with whatever is available is a team decision.
Platforms and business model
For four years VALORANT was Windows-only. In summer 2024 versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S opened as a beta before moving to full release. Console and PC players are not matched together, which Riot attributes to competitive integrity, while account progress is shared.
It is free to play with in-game purchases: cosmetic skins, sprays, cards and a seasonal battle pass. Agents can also be unlocked through play.
Turkish language and Turkey
VALORANT brought Turkish support as early as its closed beta. According to an announcement on Riot's Turkish site, 13,000 words of in-game text, 25,000 words of out-of-game text and 14,000 words of voice script were translated, and a total of 3,214 Turkish voice lines were recorded. Mustafa Oral directed the voice work; the announcement names Selim Yeฤin as Cypher, Murat Aydฤฑn as Sova and Damla รzรผduru as Sage.
The interface, subtitles and character voices can therefore all be played in Turkish, a notable investment given how rare local voice acting is in shooters.
Why is it so popular?
VALORANT's debut coincided with the first months of the pandemic, and handing out closed beta access to stream viewers pushed it to the top of streaming platforms before it was even released.
Its competitive structure gave it staying power. Riot built the international VCT esports circuit, crowning a champion each year at VALORANT Champions, and regular new agents and maps keep the game changing.
Another distinctive element is Vanguard, an anti-cheat system running at kernel level. It is seen as a tough stance against cheating but has also raised privacy concerns because of its deep access to the computer. Where to draw the line between fairness and intrusion remains an open question beyond VALORANT.
