Project T Looks Real: Riot Job Listing All But Confirms A Valorant Universe Shooter

Riot Games did the classic oops-we-said-the-quiet-part-out-loud move: they basically confirmed their unannounced FPS, codenamed Project T, lives in the Valorant universe... then immediately tried to stuff that genie back in the bottle. Internet saw it. Internet screenshotted it. Too late.

So, what just happened

On October 15, Riot posted a job listing for an Associate Art Director that flat-out said the role was for a Valorant-world FPS. After outlets picked it up (via TGP) and fans started passing around receipts, Riot quietly edited the page to vague corporate nothingness about an 'R&D product' and a 'stylized game.' The timing says everything.

What we actually know about Project T

• The first breadcrumbs go back to February 2023, when Discord user NanoPIX spotted job posts calling out an MMOFPS under the codename Project T.
• Developer Tracy Kennedy was hiring for roles that read like a who’s-who of AAA PvP FPS skills: deep competitive experience, camera/control design, and the ability to serve both first-timers and sweaty veterans.
• Leaks since then point down two very different paths:
  - A Destiny 2-style looter shooter MMOFPS with seasonal content, player housing-ish personal quarters (think Warframe ship customization), weapon modding, and survival systems like hunger and fatigue.
  - Or an extraction shooter, squarely in the current trend bucket.
• The latest listing matters because it does not sound like a napkin sketch anymore. It puts the role across multiple stages, from prototyping to full production. As Riot put it:

'Prototype through pre-production into full production.'

Translation: this thing is past the 'what if' phase and has real momentum. With one big caveat: Riot has a habit of yanking the cord late.

Riot likes to build big, then hit the brakes

Recent history is not subtle:

- Pool Party, Riot’s Smash-like platform fighter, got canceled in May 2024, with around 70–80 people affected (via ReaderGrev).
- The long-teased League of Legends MMO was fully reset in March 2024 after years of work.
- 2XKO, their fighting game, took six years to reach early access and still is not properly launched.

If Project T actually survives that pattern, the earliest realistic window looks like 2028–2030. Big 'if.'

Fans are split on what this should even be

There are two camps, and they are loud:

- Camp A: Please, someone, give us a true Destiny 2 alternative. Bungie’s been struggling with layoffs and content cuts, and that audience wants a lifeboat.
- Camp B: Please, no more extraction shooters. That space is crowded, confusing, and unforgiving.

The market context is messy. Escape from Tarkov still owns its niche despite showing its age. Bungie’s Marathon is aiming for the same extraction lane. Embark’s ARC Raiders has an open test running this weekend and is set to launch October 30. Studios keep piling in, but nobody has proven the extraction model works at a massive, sustainable scale.

What actually makes sense for Riot

A looter shooter MMOFPS is the better fit. Riot is built for long-term competitive balance and live service upkeep, they have Tencent-level money, and they can tap into a combined 150 million League and Valorant players on day one. That is a runway. An extraction shooter feels like chasing a fad that might already be peaking.

Where this lands

Right now, Project T looks real, set in the Valorant universe, and moving forward. Riot tried to walk that back, but the job listing did a lot of talking before it got sanitized. If the studio commits and resists its own cancel button, we are in for a long wait—years, not months.

Would you play a Valorant-universe MMOFPS? Or are extraction shooters an instant nope for you? And how long can a 'secret' stay secret when the careers page keeps spilling the tea?