Riot’s kept-up shooter may be the next esport to land in hot water for a nasty glitch that provides Valorant coaches with unfair information.
Radar glitches are pretty common in shooter games, but they often get instant fixes due to their severity. However, some glitches get slipped under the rug, spelling chaos for the esports. A popular example is the
coaching bug fiasco
in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive that festered the game for years before finally coming to light. Valorant might likely become the next title to have a similar bug that provides the spectator with classified intel through radar, if coaches are to be believed.
Multiple credible players have come forward with in-game videos that show red spots on the radar. This mini-map coaching bug in Valorant only gets triggered for spectators, according to the coaches.
The coaching bug in Valorant works similar to a radar cheat, where marks emerge on the mini-map exposing the enemy’s movement.
The exact nature of the bug is unknown, but most videos make it clear that it’s incidental and exposes the enemy’s location. The radar bug allows a coach to gain an overview of the mini-map in real-time and find out information about their opponents that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to obtain fairly. It gets triggered randomly when red dots start appearing on the radar. Sometimes the dots move, but that may not always be the case.
Players claim that the bug isn’t new. In fact, the coaching bug has been in existence for a while now, and many have brought it to Riot’s attention as well. It was first brought to public attention in January 2022 and,
according to the coaches, it seldom appeared in the next few patches. However, the coaching bug in Valorant is resurfacing with dots matching the color of players’ enemy outline.
Competitive integrity is at the heart of competitive esports, and Riot has made a point of keeping bad actors at bay. The developer has likely been working on it in the background. However, the lack of an
in-game replay system
indeed makes the investigation a pain as there are no solid proofs of coaches who exploited it in high-stake games.
Fortunately, most Valorant coaches claim that they have
reported it
to the TOS whenever the bug was triggered. Players are hopeful that the coaching bug in Valorant never actually impacted the outcome of major tournaments. Still, it’s a game-breaking bug that needs to be removed immediately.
Riot hasn’t yet commented on the glitch. It’d be interesting to see if the developer boots an open investigation or starts fresh by removing the bug from the root and excusing those who previously exploited it.
Fariha Bhatti
About Fariha Bhatti
Fariha Bhatti is a long-time gaming writer who loves competitive FPS games and slots with particularly fun themes. She got her start playing classic games developed by SNK, from legendary fighting game series The King of Fighters to challenging platform franchise Metal Slug. She now spends most of her time playing Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 while working her way through new slot releases to find her next favorite. Fariha has been published at PCGamesN, TalkEsport and ONE Esports.
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