Riot Games Shuts Down Rumors That Vanguard Anti-Cheat Can 'Brick' PCs

Riot Games has moved quickly to dispel rumors that its Vanguard anti-cheat software can permanently damage the PCs of players caught cheating in its games. The speculation began after a cheeky social media post from the developer, which showed a pile of hardware with the caption 'congrats to the owners of a brand new $6k paperweight.' The post was meant as a joke at cheaters' expense, but it quickly spiraled into claims that Riot could render computers useless. In less than a day, the company clarified that it 'would not, and cannot, impact your PC's functionality' and that the paperweights were cheat devices used specifically for hacking in Valorant. 'Vanguard does not damage hardware or disable your devices,' Riot stated. The company explained that its latest update enforces standard security features like IOMMU to block DMA cheating devices, making them useless for Valorant without affecting normal PC components. Riot added that while cheaters might experience hardware faults if they persist, this is expected behavior, and disabling IOMMU would restore normal function. 'We would not, and cannot, impact your PC’s functionality in any other fashion,' Riot reiterated. The developer also acknowledged the confusion, saying it 'didn't' joke about bricking PCs, only about cheating devices. This follows similar rumors in 2024, which Riot also denied at the time.