Twitch streamer and retired Counter-Strike pro Jaryd ‘summit1g’ Lazar is claiming that Riot Games’ new first-person shooter Valorant will not have aim assist for controllers.
With the Valorant beta arriving on April 3, many streamers, including summit1g, have already gotten the chance to play the game as part of a special test hosted by Riot on March 27.
During a March 29 stream, Lazar “leaked” a folder on his computer that contained a file named ‘Project A Alpha’ – the Valorant’s old codename.
Taking to Twitter, Lazar weighed in on the controversial topic of controller aim assist and how it would apply to Valorant.
“Don’t gotta worry about mkb (mouse and keyboard) vs controller on Valorant,” he tweeted. “No aim assist means they don’t show up to the party.”
Aim assist has been a very divisive issue for many gamers. Since controllers are more difficult to aim with than a mouse, some developers have implemented aim assist options which cause the crosshair to move slowly when over an enemy.
Don’t gotta worry about mkb vs controller on Valorant. No aim assist means they don’t show up to the party. ;]
— summit1g (@summit1g) March 31, 2020
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While aim assist has been prominent on console FPS games, it’s also made its way to PC titles that allow for controller support, including popular battle royales like Fortnite, Apex Legends, and, most recently, Warzone.
- Read More: Riot announce closed beta for Valorant
Some major names such as former Overwatch pro Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel have called such an implementation of aim assist “anti-competitive.”
Meanwhile, Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek and Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag have claimed that Call of Duty Warzone is easier with a controller just because of the aim assist option. Nadeshot went on record saying that in close-quarters, controller players have the edge while mouse and keyboard users win in long-range engagements.
That said, the fact that Valorant will apparently not have aim assist should come as a big relief to those who find the feature to be problematic.
It’s also unclear whether or not the game will even have controller support, though Lazar’s comments seemed to imply there will be.
The Valorant closed beta will begin April 3. To find out how you can sign up for and play it, be sure to check out our guide.