Riot Games has addressed growing concerns within the Valorant community regarding a perceived surge in cheaters. Over the past week, players and high-profile figures—including pro player Subroza—have taken to social media to voice frustrations, with claims that the game's competitive integrity is suffering at high levels.
Subroza recently criticized the current state of the game, stating, “Valorant anti-cheat is the worst of all popular games at high level. Their updates last 2 days of new act and then there’s 20000 cheaters per game.”
Riot Games Responds to Community Concerns
Phillip Koskinas, head of anti-cheat for Valorant, stepped in to address these claims directly. In response to the wave of reports, Koskinas clarified that many of the accounts flagged by players were not actually cheating. He noted that in several instances, the behavior identified as hacking was actually “stream sniping.” He confirmed that the few legitimate offenders identified in those reports had already been banned.
However, Koskinas acknowledged that the community’s concerns are not entirely unfounded. “Definitely more common now, about 2x more bans per day in most ranks,” he admitted in a response to a player. He suggested that the visibility of these cheaters has increased because they are no longer attempting to hide their activity. “Some of this is because cheaters don’t really try to cheat quietly anymore, they just get back in and start blasting,” he explained.
The "Vibed Cheats" Phenomenon
Beyond the rise in volume, the anti-cheat team is observing a shift in how these tools are being utilized. Koskinas pointed to what he called “a lot of vibed cheats out there right now.” He noted that while the developers are able to easily address these in post-game updates, there is a visible increase in attempts from users motivated by the “allure of telling Claude to make you radiant.”
This response follows recent efforts by Riot to iterate on their Vanguard anti-cheat system. The developer recently implemented a change allowing specific players to keep the anti-cheat software deactivated until they actually launch a Riot title. Despite these ongoing efforts to balance player experience and security, Koskinas has previously maintained that a total eradication of hackers is an “inevitable” challenge for any competitive shooter.
For now, the team continues to urge players to submit reports via official channels to assist in ongoing ban waves.