The game director for first-person shooter Valorant, Joe Ziegler, has revealed that he is leaving the team to “start something new”, seemingly within Riot Games.
In a December 30 blog post, Ziegler – who has been working on Valorant for eight years – revealed that he would be leaving his post as game director and passing the torch to Andy Ho, a Riot Games veteran who has worked on both League of Legends and Valorant across two spells at the company, totalling more than 11 years of experience. Ziegler says that Ho “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.”
While his Valorant journey is coming to an end, Ziegler appears to be remaining a part of Riot Games. While he says that he will be “starting something new”, there is no mention of this being with another studio or an independent project. He also says he will “not be far from the game and the team and they’ll always have my support.”
What this new project entails is unclear. However, Ziegler says that he hopes it will, at the very least, “scratch the surface of the amazing impact Valorant has already had.”
Closing his announcement, Ziegler says that being the game director for Valorant has been “truly joyous and a memorable experience.”
With Ho being a long-standing member of the Valorant team alongside Ziegler, it is unlikely that any radical changes in direction will occur with him at the helm.