Here’s a bold statement: Riot Games is rolling out an anti-cheat update that could leave older PC gamers in the dust. But here’s where it gets controversial—while the change aims to level the playing field in competitive tiers like Ascendant, Immortal, and Radiant, it might unfairly penalize players with outdated hardware. Riot’s anti-cheat analyst, Mohamed Al-Sharifi, even hinted that similar restrictions could extend to League of Legends, though they’re not in place yet. If Vanguard blocks you, you’ll need to update your motherboard’s BIOS before you can even launch the game. Sounds simple, right? Not so fast.
The real issue lies in the hardware compatibility. Newer PCs are getting the necessary patches, but older systems? Not so much. The vulnerability targets motherboards from four major manufacturers—ASRock, Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI—affecting Intel’s 500-, 600-, 700-, and 800-series chipsets, as well as AMD’s 600- and 800-series. But this is the part most people miss—it’s unclear whether older chipsets like Intel’s 400-series or certain AMD models will ever get a patch. Are they safe? Do they need one? Or are they simply being left behind? Even the vendors’ security bulletins are inconsistent, with some mentioning patches for specific models while others stay silent.
For context, these chipsets cover Intel’s 10th-gen Core processors and newer, plus AMD Ryzen 7000 series and up. But if your PC is older than that, you might be out of luck. And here’s the thought-provoking question: Is it fair to exclude players with older hardware from competitive play, especially when the patches themselves are unevenly distributed? Riot’s move is undeniably aimed at fairness, but at what cost? Let’s discuss—do you think this approach is justified, or is it a step too far? Share your thoughts in the comments!
