Valorant has always excelled with their map designs. With Riot's designers helping them to get their ideas executed, the end result has always been polished.
At the beginning of the month, Split was removed from the competitive queue due to an exploit. Instead of returning the beloved map, Riot have decided to remove it completely.
However, when one door closes another opens. A new map named Pearl will be playable for all agents soon enough.
Why has Split been removed?
The map was originally removed due to a game-changing bug. Although not officially named, many agents suspect it was a bug which made Jett fly high into the sky in certain points of the Split map.
Joe “Pearl Hogbash” Lansford who works on the Valorant maps explained why in a blog on Riot's official website.
"We looked at a bunch of different factors when making this decision. Player sentiment, time since release, past and future planned updates, what the map brings in terms of strategic variance, as well as where Pearl fits into all of it (to name a few)"
He even addressed fans' disappointment and re-instated that the map made sense logically to go. Riot are aware that Split was a fan's favourite but it didn't make sense for it to be in the game anymore.
What is the new map?
The new map has been called Pearl. From the screenshot posted by the official Valorant Twitter, it looks like a water-themed map.
With its own statue in the centre, the map doesn't quite have the Bioshock style. Instead, the map looks idyllic and relaxing... perfect for some Raze nades.
The new map will come to Valorant in Patch 5.0 which is released on June 22. The full patch notes are now released by Riot.
Despite fans' disappointment at the removal of their favourite map, this new map is exciting. As agents get used to Pearl, I'm sure their favourite will change.