After months of speculation, football giants FC Barcelona have officially confirmed their entry into Valorant esports, joining the expanding community of traditional sports organizations making their mark in the esports realm. This move underscores the ongoing growth of the Valorant esports scene, as more established entities recognize the potential that the competitive gaming sphere has to offer.

The FCB Valorant team, Barca eSports, is set to embark on their esports journey by making their debut in the upcoming Valorant Challengers Spain, one of the prominent tier 2 Valorant leagues in Europe.

The news was confirmed by Juli Guiu – Vice president of FC Barcelona – and was brought to light by the official website of the Spanish League.

It’s worth noting that the world of esports is not a new thing to FC Barcelona, as they had previously joined the League of Legends LVP SuperLiga in 2022 and maintained a Rocket League team from 2019 to 2021.

“With the participation of FC Barcelona in the Valorant competition of the LVP we add a new team that will represent the Club during this 2024,” Guiu said in a statement. “The Club continues to shape its commitment to esports and adds a team to the Valorant competition that, together with the one that competes in League of Legends, are framed in the will to explore new opportunities and reach new audiences.”

Fans will be able to watch Barca eSports in action for the first time on 15th January during the opening day of VCL 2024 Spain: Rising Split 1, where they take on ZETA in the tournament’s first game.

Here’s a list of all the teams participating in the VCL 2024 Spain:

• Barça eSports
• FIVE Media Clan 
• Case Esports
• UCAM Esports Club 
• ZETA 
• KPI Gaming 
• Ramboot Club 
• AYM Esports 

Unfortunately, the official roster of Barca eSports hasn’t been disclosed at the time of writing. However, with VCS 2024 set to kick off from 15th January, it’s safe to assume that the org has a preliminary concept of how the lineup will shape. 

Only a few weeks have passed since the release of the newest Valorant Agent Iso in the live servers, and players of the competitive shooter have already managed to find game breaking bugs involving the Chinese Duelist within the short span since his arrival.

The aforementioned Iso bug enables him to live through a Spike explosion, which should otherwise immediately kill any player caught in its radius.

The bug has been shared by Reddit user ‘Mashimuno’ in the official subreddit of the title, and many Valorant players have claimed to have encountered this bug while playing the game.

The attached video shows the bug in action, where Iso uses his ‘Double Tap’ ability to live through the Spike explosion. Instead of killing Iso instantly, the explosion deals no damage to him whatsoever as long as he is under his shield.

For the uninitiated, Iso’s shield from ‘Double Tap’ enables him to live through one instance of any damage, but it shouldn’t be able to protect him from the Spike explosion since it isn’t a single instance of damage. Users have also pointed out that Reyna can’t survive the Spike explosion even if she enters the radius with her ‘Dismiss’.

Valorant players from around the world are eagerly anticipating Riot Games to promptly address this issue at the earliest.

For the first time since the release of Valorant in June 2020,  the game is on the brink of introducing its inaugural addition to the arsenal—a highly anticipated new weapon. The upcoming weapon in Valorant, named ‘Outlaw’ is expected to be a sniper rifle and will likely bridge the gap between the Marshal and the Operator.

Earlier, the firearm had been accidentally leaked during the Valiant Hero skin showcase in October 2023. However, subsequent updates or details about the gun remained elusive until today.

Thanks to a recent disclosure by the reputed Valorant dataminer ‘ValorLeaks’, we’ve finally gained insight into the potential release date for Outlaw. However, it’s yet to receive official confirmation from the devs.

New Valorant Weapon Outlaw Release Date Leaked

As per the aforementioned leak, Outlaw will be introduced to the game alongside the launch of the highly anticipated Episode 8.

Valorant Episode 8 is expected to be released around January 10, 2024, which means that fans will be able to try out the new gun in Valorant not long after the calendar turns.

Valorant ‘Outlaw’ Details

As mentioned earlier, Outlaw is Valorant is expected to be a sniper priced around 2,400 VP, and will likely act as a budget Operator. While the precise damage numbers for the Outlaw are yet to be revealed, it will be intriguing to observe how Riot Games navigates the balance between the Marshal and the Operator in its implementation.