Riot Games has announced that Premier, a feature for Valorant that helps lets players create their own team and compete in pre-scheduled matches, is entering a testing stage.
From next week, Valorant players in Brazil will be able to test an alpha version of Premier. The feature is designed to bridge the gap between Valorant‘s ranked queues and the more structured tournament-style matches in the shooter’s esport scene.
In Premier’s alpha test, players will be able to create their own team – complete with logos and colours – and participate in tournament play, which will include a map pick-and-ban system. Competing players’ scores in these matches will be tracked, and Riot has stressed that it will be using the alpha to patch out bugs and work on matchmaking and queue quality.
However, Riot has noted that “in its current state, Premier is about 60 per cent of all the planned features and functionality, but there are whole features that are absent in the current alpha.”
There’s currently no word on when Premier will launch globally, as Riot explained that the alpha’s smaller sample size will allow the company to “test and iterate faster, ensuring that the final product gets into the hands of the rest of you sooner.”
On Premier’s purpose, Jon Walker – a designer on Valorant‘s competitive team – shared that Riot “wanted to build a connection between the game and the esport through a highly competitive mode that would allow millions of players to experience Valorant in a similar way as our VCT pros and teams.”
Back in February, Valorant esports head Daniel Ringland told NME what fans can expect from the shooter’s competitive scene going forward.
In other gaming news, more accusations of unfair labour practices have been filed against Activision Blizzard.
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