Shooters are my bread and butter at Pocket Tactics, but Valorant is one title that I haven't quite cracked yet. All the ingredients are there: vibrant characters, well-designed maps, and a respectable learning curve. Maybe Valorant Mobile can be the iteration that convinces me to make it a regular game in my rotation, but a quiet shift for its launch date means we won't be battling each other anytime soon. Well, at least not in most regions.
Valorant Mobile is a long time coming, as Riot Games' tinkering with the FPS game is almost four years in the making at this point. Now, an open beta is coming to the free mobile on Monday, August 19, 2025, on the App Store with a major catch. Only players in China can get their hands on the game, following numerous playtests for Eastern-based players over the last year. However, it isn't stopping savvy players with mobile VPNs from trying to join the fight.
While that's a tempting prospect, I'd rather play Valorant Mobile with a decent ping and stable internet connection. Over on the game's presence on the social media platform Weibo, Riot Games confirms the launch date following its appearance at the ChinaJoy Gaming Festival. An additional post outlines core features in the game, including a "classic 5v5 blaster attack and defense, Warrior Academy system [and] social system."
The major question that remains is when the Valorant Mobile release date will be in other regions. Despite pre-registrations and a wealth of leaks that showcase features even the console builds don't have, Riot Games doesn't intend to comment on this yet.
However, Valorant Mobile's publishing lead, Dave Shinn, issued a brief statement on the open beta. In a new post on X, he says, "I'm excited to see the excitement for the CN beta. To be clear: if there was a 'new global build' out there, you'd have heard about it through VAL channels. Don't get scammed."
In the meantime, I recommend you set your sights on Destiny: Rising, which launches in a few weeks around the world. The pocket-sized iteration of Bungie's looter shooter has my attention, and I'm eager to see if it can offer the same sense of action on the go.
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