The game director to the first-person shooter Valorant, Joe Ziegler, has decided to step down from his position to work on a new project. Ziegler shared this information in a blog post on the Valorant website.
Ziegler started out with, “It is with a heart full of gratitude and a deep excitement that I come to you today with news. After 8 years of working on VALORANT, building it from the ground up with a team of dedicated and passionate developers who’ve worked tirelessly to serve you all with the respect and admiration that you deserve, I am giving up the mantle of game director of the VALORANT tac-shooter to my good friend, Andy Ho.” Ho is currently the senior director of game direction at Riot.
The now ex-game director of Valorant went on to sing Andy Ho’s praises by saying, “Andy is someone who I am proud to say has put many years of his own into VALORANT, and whose personal dedication to deliver to the highest standards inspires all who work with him. He has my full faith and trust that he will continue to grow and evolve VALORANT year-over-year to become even better than what I could imagine it to be. As for me, I’ll be starting something new (*wink, secrets…) in the hopes that we can even scratch the surface of the amazing impact VALORANT has already had so far.”
The free-to-play hero shooter was only released in June of 2020 and has become incredibly popular with PC gamers. The game is set in the near future and includes characters based on countries and cultures from around the world. Ziegler ended his message with, “That said, I’ll not be far from the game and the team and they’ll always have my support. Thank you to everyone who has supported and continues to support VALORANT, and a special shout out to all who’ve supported me and my work. You’ve made my time as your game director a truly joyous and memorable experience. Much <3.”
Whatever Ziegler’s secret new project is, fans of Valorant will be waiting with anticipation.
