Valorant's recent 1.11 update didn't exactly roll out smoothly.
When the games own official social accounts are describing the release as "a technical nightmare" and walking back updates across the world so they can implement a fix, you know it's gone bad.
The update was intended to add Valorant's newest agent Skye following the launch of Act 3 with patch 1.10 earlier this month.
But the update created a multitude of issues, not least several game-breaking bugs.
This ranged from the more mundane, such as users suck in left-hand mode, and major performance issues, to ridiculous glitches such as a player's screen being overtaken by the texture of Sage whenever they walked through Omen smoke.
So yes, "a technical nightmare" it certainly was.
Valorant Update 1.11 - What Went Wrong?
The update itself was walked back and is now fixed and live in the game along with several more improvements, but the whole debacle has seen Riot consider how they approach these updates in the future.
The Riot Games weekly ‘Ask VALORANT’ column has addressed what they might look to do in the future.
One question put to the team was rather pointed in suggesting that patch performance has not been great for some time, to which Senior Producer Arnar Gylfason honestly replied “patch stability has been really bad"
Gylfason then provided some reasons for the poor performance of the patch, citing “internal process improvements,” “philosophical changes” and “investment in tooling and infrastructure".
Regardless of the reasons, Gylfason has promised a “thorough investigation” into what went wrong.
So with any luck players can look forward to an improved experience in the future.
Less Updates In Future?
That being said, the studio also says they are considering “maybe slowing down a bit.”
“We’ve been rigorously keeping to the two-week patch cadence since even before we started our Closed Beta,” Gylfason explained.
“Even with the logistical challenges of working from home, the team has been—and continues being—incredibly passionate to get content and features out as quickly as possible, including moving up our maps release schedule.
“But it’s time to take a breath and take stock of what we need to do internally to make sure that our efforts are sustainable and hitting the quality bar you, our players, deserve.”
Where this leaves the games typical schedule of updates every two-weeks, isn't clear, but it it looks to improve the game in the long term, then all the better.