The day has finally arrived. The Valorant servers are officially live in South Africa!
Amidst all the hype around the launch of the local servers for this popular game, we managed to get some time with one of the team members who made this project happen. Spencer Ma is the Growth Lead at Carry1st, the company that has partnered with Riot to enable the servers in South Africa.
So, what is all the hype about? Well, first-person shooters are a very popular category worldwide, and Counter-Strike has been one of the front runners in the competitive scene for years. A few years back, Riot Games decided to take that 5v5 match-up and add a little flavour to it with its own game, Valorant. While the game still remains a 5v5 FPS, the flavour is that each player has a specific Agent that has their own range of abilities to be used during the match.
South African gamers loves Valorant, and since the games launched in 2020, we’ve amassed quite a large community. Of course, being an international game, we were subjected to high ping and latency, and for a game that requires headshot accuracy, those factors make a big impact on gameplay. Now that the day has finally arrived, Valorant players can bask in the glory of that low-ping latency, and this is what Spencer Ma, the Growth Lead from the Carry 1st team, had to say about the launch.
NAG: Please tell us more about the local server launch for Valorant and what gamers can expect now that the servers are in place?
Ma: “South African servers have just gone live for Valorant this morning, and local gamers can now expect much lower ping speeds and latency, meaning less lag and a better experience. They’ll be able to play with other local gamers as well, rather than with players from the EU or Middle East that have historically had an advantage with lower ping.”
NAG: Does this mean there will also be more Valorant events for South African gamers to enjoy?
Ma: “Absolutely. Carry1st will be hosting a number of events, both online and in-person, over the next couple of months to celebrate this occasion. For starters, we’ll be at Comic Con Africa at the end of September in Johannesburg, so if you’re coming, please visit us! Event updates and news will be announced from Carry1st social channels as well, so stay tuned for more!”
NAG: Are you able to share more information about the servers, the process and the effort that went into getting such a project off the ground?
Ma: “Sure. It was a huge collaboration with our partners at Riot Games, who we have to thank wholeheartedly. They’ve been incredibly supportive throughout this whole process and are ultimately the ones responsible for activating the server.”
NAG: Do you play Valorant yourself, and if so, who is your favourite Agent?
Ma: “I’ll have to be honest, I didn’t play much Valorant before starting to chat with Riot. I played a ton of League of Legends and CS:GO but never made the jump to Valorant. Now, I’m thoroughly enjoying the game and am keen to play with members of the community! I haven’t decided on a main yet, though I heard Ben Affleck say he was a KAY/O main, so maybe I should try that…”
NAG: Will the South African servers cater to other players outside of South Africa as well, or is your main focus the South African community?
Ma: “Currently, the focus for the marketing campaign is on the South African community. We’ve also heard that players in neighbouring countries have been able to enjoy lower ping speeds, which has been great news.”
NAG: Is the Carry1st team planning on bringing any other servers to South Africa, perhaps League of Legends?
Ma: “We certainly hope so!”
NAG: Please tell us more about Carry1st and its involvement with gaming in South Africa?
Ma: “Carry1st is the leading mobile games publisher in Africa. We also partner with global publishers to grow and scale their games in Africa, like what we’re doing with Valorant now and what we did last year with Call of Duty: Mobile in South Africa. We also operate the Carry1st Shop, where gamers in Africa can purchase gaming content (currency, battle passes, etc.) using local payment methods that Apple and Google don’t offer.”
We also asked Spencer why he thought Valorant would succeed where other games like Dota 2 and Rainbow Six Siege haven’t been able to keep their servers in South Africa; he said he would have to ask Riot on that one. Perhaps we’ll have an answer in another interview down the line, where we catch up with the Carry 1st team to see how the South African Valorant servers are holding up.
Getting in on the action: If your Riot Account settings are set to the ZAF region, you should automatically be switched over to the servers in Cape Town. To confirm this, you can click on the settings cog in the top right corner, hit the About button and then click on Game Shard.
You should still be a part of the EU Shard, but your region will be ZAF. Technically, this wouldn’t have changed if your region was already set to ZAF, but at least you can confirm you’re in the right region this way. If you aren’t in the ZAF region, you will have to log in to your Riot Account and change it in your personal settings.
Of course, the best and most satisfying way to experience the new servers is to hop onto a game, hit Tab and view your sub-20 ping in all its glory. I can confirm that I have tried it a few times, and it’s even more satisfying than scoring an Ace.
Keep your eyes on our socials and website for any more updates on the South African Valorant scene. See you out there, agents.