Riot Games is discontinuing a third-party Valorant software that provides players with an early advantage in character selection. Unofficial multiplayer game companion applications are typically available to provide expanded (and harmless) stat monitoring or live ranking data. Recon Bolt, created by Swiss developer Julian Dunskus, drew the ire of Riot because of its most distinctive feature: the ability to lock in characters on your phone before the option is available on PC (as discovered by Dexerto).
Recon Bolt has been available since at least October 2022, but Dunskus revealed this week on his Discord server that he will be pulling it down after receiving a cease-and-desist warning from Riot Games.
Riot Games may have also objected to Recon Bolt’s premium tier, which is a one-time $5 purchase that unlocks a few extra features. Riot Games warned gamers on Twitter last year that “using unauthorized 3rd-party apps that pull information hidden by the game client can get you BANNED.”
The reason behind Riot’s requested shutdown has not been publicly disclosed. However, according to Dunskus, who spoke to PC Gamer, the studio has been attempting to shut down Recon Bolt for several months. When Dunskus inquired in May about being locked out of Riot’s developer portal, a representative pointed out several issues with Recon Bolt. These issues included the use of an unsanctioned login tool, a character selection shortcut, and an “item store checker” that did not align with Riot’s policies.
Allowing players to pre-select their character before everyone else sounds like an “unauthorized” use of Riot’s tools—in other words, a cheat—though Dunskus insists his software was previously authorized by Riot.
Dunskus stated on Twitter that Recon Bolt is no less fair than Valorant’s normal method of character distribution, “where people who have faster PCs or are faster at clicking the necessary buttons (or set up a macro) get dibs.”
Valorant’s character choosing isn’t quite fair, but most players would prefer to have to open an app before every encounter to level the odds. Streamers have also reported that Recon Bolt might be used by stream snipers to determine which character streamers are playing, however, Dunskus claims that this was not a deliberate purpose of the app and that it was patched out some time ago.
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