Due to players intentionally throwing games to make money from cryptocurrency betting services, the experience of professional players and streams in ranked VALORANT is currently severely harmed. Tarik wants to create a private group where well-known rivals may play without worrying, even if the game’s creator Riot Games hasn’t addressed this problem.
The No. 1 VALORANT content creator in North America will hand direct invitations to any pro contracted to a franchised organization or tier-one organizations, including Game Changers players. Players that don’t meet these requirements will be able to apply to join Tarik’s group in case they finished top 50 in one of the last three acts, played at least six months in a pro team in the past two years, or reached Immortal III in the last three acts while streaming over 500 hours of VALORANT in 2022.
Tarik also wants to form a council with seven anonymous professional players that will decide who gets accepted. The votes will also be anonymous and a player will be accepted into Tarik’s group for competitive VALORANT in case four or more pros approve.
This type of third-party matchmaking already exists in other FPS games like CS:GO’s FACEIT Pro League (FPL), a hub run by ESL FACEIT in which players get invited or qualify for the league and play more serious five-vs-five matches than the average official matchmaking experience.
While Tarik’s plan could be good in the short-term or grow into something bigger like FPL in CS:GO, this doesn’t mean Riot should not be taking action against match-fixing in VALORANT ranked.