Is Riot planning to bring Valorant to consoles? A recent senior job opening gives some insight into the long-asked question.
In a move that is both surprising but not all too shocking, a Riot job posting published in the last week appears to confirm the existence of a Valorant port coming to home consoles. Made on the game developer job posting site Hitmarker, this Game Design Manager, Console position is a senior job at Riot Games and based in Bellevue, Washington.
Given the continued mention of a mobile version of Valorant being in the works a jump to consoles seems like both a natural fit for Valorant and also a risky proposition. The mere idea of a shooter so reliant on reflexes and skill-based shooting being played via a controller will most likely be a hot-button topic.
it does appear as though this position is as much about creating a unique experience on consoles as it is bringing Valorant to XBox and PlayStation. Regardless, Riot bringing Valorant to consoles is a fascinating and potentially challenging job for any game dev.
The job responsibilities list as follows:
- Work with team leads to develop a vision for combat in VALORANT on Consoles
- Ensure that VALORANT design teams are highly performing teams
- Anticipate the needs of players on all relevant platforms and understand the nuanced differences between them.
- Ensure execution in gameplay and delivery schedule for a range of projects in flight from early concept to final polish
- Manage and coach designers across the team
- Influence senior leadership frequently regarding product direction and strategy, both regarding projects and related work (e.g. events, etc…)
- Build positive relationships across other teams at Riot in shared design spaces
- Builds strong relationships with leadership from a range of disciplines to multiply their quality and output
Riot's Valorant console version job qualifications
This senior position's required qualifications read as followed:
Required Qualifications:
- 5+ years experience in Game Design role; experience as a game design owner of multiple large projects in parallel with successful delivery
- 1+ years people management experience; experience with mentorship of other designers leading to a promotion or substantial positive improvements in their work
- The Experience of creating systemic change to a design team’s process or principles to improve output significantly across the team
- Experience communicating and expressing complex and nuanced designs in simple ways
- Leadership experience resolving conflict, and when needed offering difficult feedback with respect
Desired Qualifications:
- Experience working as a developer on an FPS title.
- Strong understanding Tactical FPS principles and can apply them effectively
- Robust understanding of console FPS market and player motivations and behaviors
- Can quickly produce a wide breadth of mechanics solutions, and generate and identify an excellent solution
- Experience developing on multiple platforms, PC, Mobile, and Console.
Can Riot toe the line between making a console version of a hyper skill-based game while also keeping the competitive aspects fair and balanced? It's a struggle that FPS competitor Overwatch struggles with continually, not knowing whether to give console players an edge or throw everyone into the same pool and see who drowns. This could be a Wild Rift-type situation where the version of Valorant created is something wholly meant for console players and cordoned off from its PC sibling.
Regardless, expect more information on this project as it becomes available. And be sure to keep your eyes on esports.gg for all Valorant news, PC or otherwise.