When will Valorant move to Unreal Engine 5?

Valorant ^[1] has been out for almost ten years, with the game attracting countless players who have, at least at some point, jumped into the game to test their skills and try their favorite agent. However, the game’s overall look has largely remained the same, even if the UI has seen some changes.

Now, Valorant is about to experience a major change by shifting to Unreal Engine 5 ^[2]. Players have information about when they can expect this change to take place, as well as some of the effects the change will result in.

So, if you’re an avid Valorant player and are interested to learn what will happen when Valorant moves to Unreal Engine 5, keep reading!

Valorant moving to Unreal Engine 5 in July

In a Valorant developer diary ^[3] released on May 30, 2025, Valorant will be moving to Unreal Engine 5 in July of this year. The change will be introduced in patch 11.02 and is expected to be released near the end of the month.

Valorant was built in Unreal Engine 4, and the team at Riot Games continued to build upon that foundation through the same engine. Thanks to the many changes UE5 brings to the table, players will experience multiple changes to the game. However, it also means the download will be extremely large, as players will essentially have to download the entire game again. Fortunately, that’s only a one-time loss, as players can look forward to multiple favorable changes.

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What will happen when Valorant moves to Unreal Engine 5?

Since Unreal Engine 5 is significantly more advanced than Unreal Engine 4, players can expect a handful of positive changes. Rest assured, the dev diary ensures players that the overall look and feel of the game won’t change.

The two highlights are improved framerate performance and faster patch downloads to make the overall gameplay process smoother. However, while not explicitly stated, it’s only natural that this change will also increase the game’s minimum system requirements, since the newer game engine is much more demanding.

To make up for the long downtime and download size, anyone who logs in during patch 11.02 will receive a free gunbuddy. Fans have stated that the in-game goodie is too minor, and a skin should be given instead, especially since so many people with slow internet will have to sit through an extremely large download.

References

1. [1] "official Valorant homepage". playvalorant.com. Retrieved May 31, 2025
2. [2] "Official Unreal Engine website". www.unrealengine.com. Retrieved May 31, 2025
3. [3] "Valorant May 30 dev diary". www.youtube.com. Retrieved May 31, 2025