In context: Reports from users trying out Windows 11 are starting to indicate that the anti-cheat software in Riot Games' competitive first-person shooter requires secure boot and Trusted Platform Module 2.0 (TPM 2.0) when played on Microsoft's upcoming operating system. Valorant's "Vanguard" anti-cheat is already known to be on the stricter side, and now Riot seems to be making use of Windows 11's controversial hardware requirements.

Anti-Cheat Police Department, a Twitter account that aggregates reports on cheating in online games, recently collected some forum posts from users having issues running Valorant on Windows 11. They show a "VAN9001" error that seems to occur when trying to play Valorant on Windows 11 without TPM2.0 or secure boot enabled. The screencaps of the posts seem to confirm Riot is requiring both to play Valorant on Windows 11.

Windows 11 itself already requires TPM 2.0 which has caused a considerable amount of confusion among users trying out the operating system before its full release later this year. Secure boot seems to be what's confusing people trying to play Valorant, as tutorials on how to fix VAN9001 mostly involve activating secure boot in the BIOS.

This may be a new level of anti-cheat security, but it's not the first time Valorant's anti-cheat has met controversy. Vanguard runs with system privileges deeper than many find comfortable. Last year Riot had to give players the option to independently turn off or uninstall Vanguard after they close Valorant.

Requiring TPM 2.0 in order to play a game may seem unusual, but this is less about Valorant and more about Windows 11's strict system requirements. Windows 11's TPM requirement effectively puts its CPU requirements far above Valorant's CPU requirements. According to Riot, people using Windows 10 and earlier can play Valorant on processors as old as Core 2 Duos. Microsoft, on the other hand, confirmed Windows 11 won't support anything older than Intel 7th generation and AMD 2nd generation Zen processors.

Microsoft plans to release Windows 11 to the general public on October 5.