Valorant players demand devs stop removing maps from “stale” game

Valorant players are demanding for the Riot devs to stop removing maps from the “stale” game.

There’s now a total of 10 maps in Riot’s first-person shooterValorant, significantly more than when the game first launched in 2020. However, since Episode 5, the devs haveimplemented a map pool, limiting the amount of maps in rotation to just seven at any given time.

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It’s safe to say the feature has been fairly controversial amongst the Valorant community. Many believe it was added because the devs think there are “too many maps.” But despite that, players have demanded thatthe map pool be removed, slamming it as “awful.”

In a March 22post on Valorant’s Reddit, similar demands were made, with one player kicking off a discussion as they called for the devs to stop removing maps.

Chamber next to Valorant logo and patch 11.04 text

“Stop removing maps. More variety doesn’t hurt anyone,” the player hit out. “I hate having to wait literal years to play maps again. The game feels a little stale with only 7 maps.

“I’m currently missing Haven, Pearl, and Fracture. Haven especially as it was an OG map.”

Valorant map pool in 2025.

They continued: “The rationale of it being hard for new players to learn a lot of maps doesn’t make sense to me. Maps are relatively easy to learn compared to agents. Anyone who puts the time in to climb the ranks has more than enough time to learn all the maps.

“And for casual/low rank players, isn’t the extra variety more fun than only having a few maps? I think we would all appreciate the variety,” the player added. “This isn’t like CS where you need tons of esoteric flash and smoke line ups.”

Waylay flying in Valorant with game logo and update 10.04 patch notes text

Valorant 11.04 patch notes bring big Chamber & Sage changes before Act 5

Valorant map pool: All maps in current rotation & patch 10.04 changes

Valorant 10.04 update patch notes: Waylay, agent buffs & nerfs, map pool changes, more

In the replies to the post, many other players agreed. Some suggest that devs should allow maps to be played in Unrated and other non-competitive game modes. “Even just in the unranked gamemodes, I wanna play for fun not get only breeze and f**king sunset,” they said.

“Make map restrictions comp only or something. I get why they do it, but I don’t agree because I like the variety. F**k balance, give me fun!” wrote another.

With that said, players are looking toward the next map release, which is expected at some point in Episode 8 Act 3. And, the community isconvinced they’ve found what’s in store thanks to hidden images on Valorant’s website.