The “rumor” went viral on Pirat_Nation account on the social network X, which has already been caught many times spreading fakes. Nevertheless, it still boasts a subscription base of over 100,000 users.
The post included a screenshot purportedly from PC Gamer, claiming Tencent provided Riot Games with $200 million to develop a rival to Valve’s Deadlock. However, the screenshot was debunked as a forgery since it was dated March 2024, while Deadlock’s first gameplay was only released in May. In reality, PC Gamer never published such material, and the actual source of the claim is a post from 4Chan.
Joe Hickson, one of Riot Games’ community managers, also denied the information and explained that the company’s cooperation with Tencent works differently.
I see lots of crazy rumors, but this extra fake. Some notes… – The article in the screenshot doesn’t even exist. – Tencent doesn’t fund our dev like this…that’s not how this works…that’s not how any of this works. – There’s a lot cooking in R&D, but nothing like Deadlock.
Joe Hickson, Community Manager
Valorant is transitioning to Unreal Engine 5, and Riot Games is developing new game projects within the shooter universe
Riot Games is currently porting Valorant to Unreal Engine 5 and developing new game projects to broaden the game’s universe.
Valorant producer Anna Donlon spoke at the Unreal Fest Seattle 2024 presentation and talked about how Riot Games uses the Epic Games engine for its shooter.
Donlon mentioned that Valorant is transitioning to Unreal Engine 5, stating that this change “will not significantly affect the game’s functionality and appearance — at least not right away.”
She also alluded to the fact that the Valorant developers are working on a project that she is not yet at liberty to discuss.
Perhaps our developers are thinking about how to expand the Valorant universe in new game projects. And perhaps we are extremely happy that we chose Unreal Engine for the game. Because we can move developers and technologies from one project to another in order to significantly simplify the work on these completely hypothetical game projects.
Anna Donlon, Valorant Producer
It remains unclear whether the “game projects” in question will be new modes within Valorant or independent spin-offs of the multiplayer shooter.
Valorant is accessible on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series. Additionally, Riot Games is developing a version for mobile platforms.
