Valorant updates will arrive 24 hours after patch in Episode 9, store updates after 48 hours
New Valorant updates have been announced by Riot Games with the upcoming release of patch 9.0. These update releases include new agents, maps, acts, and much more as Valorant's Episode 9 Act 1 begins on June 25, 2024. However, new content in-game will not be released immediately with the new patch; the official Valorant X handle announced that new content will be made available in the game 24 hours after its release.
Moreover, store updates will be released 48 hours after the release of patch 9.0. Hence, if the new episode releases in your region on Tuesday, June 25th, the new Valorant updates will go live on Wednesday, June 26th.
Valorant updates to be delayed after the release of Episode 9 Act 1
New updates within the game will now be delayed. Unfortunately, for confused fans, the reason for this delay has not been made clear; however, the X post did offer fans exciting new announcements.
Perhaps the most striking detail is that new agents will be introduced in Episode 9. It hasn't been specified whether these agents will be released immediately with the new Valorant updates.
After the release of Patch 9.0, rank changes will be refreshed within the game, but it may take up to 24 hours to fully reflect the new rankings. This means that players might be unranked for the first day after downloading the patch. This pattern of rank refreshes will continue for every major patch after Episode 9 Act 1.
Skins will be released 48 hours after the patch updates. However, balancing changes to Agents, a new background video in the main menu, and art at the Login screen will be available right away with the patch.
Riot Games has implemented these delays to catch bugs before releasing new in-game items, to minimize the chances of temporarily breaking the game.
The official account also notified Valorant Console players that Ranked will arrive on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on 6/26 PT. This notification was in response to the aforementioned post.