Valorant is ending support for older versions of Windows citing security concerns

Valorant is axing Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 support on security grounds

Riot Games has confirmed that they will be ending support for Valorant on older versions of Windows on March 14th, stating that they are doing so for “security reasons”. 

Valorant, Riot’s competitive FPS, utilises the company’s controversial Vanguard security software, and cutting support for older OS’ is likely to allow Riot Games to further clamp down on cheaters within their game. 

With Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 lacking official support from Microsoft, all three of these legacy OS’ have become easier and easier to exploit as hackers uncover new ways to take advantages of these OS’ flaws. None of these OS’ receive security updates anymore, and most gamers have now moved on to either Windows 10 or Windows 11. As such, it makes sense for Riot to abandon these OS’, especially when doing so offers them security advantages. 

Below is what Riot had to say about their plans to end support for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 on Twitter.

If you are currently using any of these legacy OS’ to play Valorant, you can continue playing the game by upgrading your PC to Windows 10. It is probable that your PC will not support Windows 11 if you currently use Windows 8.1 or an older OS on your system. 

Since its reveal, Valorant’s Vanguard security software has been criticised by security conscious gamers due to the fact that the anti-cheat software makes use of kernel-level access. These high privileges gives the software access to almost everything on your system, and while Riot Games claims that this is a requirement for a modern anti-cheat system, many gamers are nonetheless uncomfortable with this setup. That said, most game cheat software use similar levels of access, so it makes sense for an anti-cheat software to use a similar level of system access for detection. 

You can join the discussion on Valorant ending its support for older versions of Windows on the OC3D Forums.