Valorant is enforcing Windows 11’s security features

There’s still a lot of confusion about Windows 11, despite it being released only a month from now, and one of the biggest issues is with the new OS’s TPM 2.0 requirement to protect against firmware attacks. While this security feature can be bypassed to run Windows 11, it seems that Riot Games and Valorant has already begun to enforce the measure – so PCs running Windows 11 without TPM 2.0 cannot run Valorant.

While Windows 11 isn’t officially available until October 5, interested users have been able to download a preview version for a few months now – and the latest build of the new OS seems to have included a nasty surprise for Valorant players who have used workarounds to avoid the TPM 2.0 security requirement.

As spotted by XDA Developers, users have begun to report that affected Windows 11 users trying to play Valorant are getting error messages that state the current build of Riot’s anti-cheat service Vanguard requires both TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot enabled – which then kicks them out of the game.

The reason Riot would enforce this is that the ‘Trusted Platform Module’ firmware system makes it far harder for players to cheat, as cheaters who get banned will not be able to immediately spoof a new hardware ID. Given how useful it is for developers, it’s also entirely possible that the TPM 2.0 requirement won’t stay isolated to Windows 11 for Valorant – since Riot is quite able to enforce it on Windows 10, too.

Valorant has started to enforce both TPM and Secure boot if YOU are playing on Windows 11 to ensure a trusted platform when playing Valorant. @RiotVanguard team yet again leading the anti-cheat industry in the right direction for competitive integrity pic.twitter.com/qgTM1yNqdA

— Anti-Cheat Police Department ?️ (@AntiCheatPD) September 3, 2024

It also seems very likely that the restriction won’t stay limited to Valorant alone, as all of the most popular multiplayer games on PC would probably love to support any Windows 11 features that would severely hamper cheating. We’ll just have to wait and see if the likes of Fortnite will also start requiring TPM 2.0 too.

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