- Battlefield 6 and Valorant can't run at the same time due to kernel-level anti-cheat conflicts.
- Riot says both anti-cheats protect the same memory regions, causing the error.
- Closing Valorant completely fixes the issue, but it shows the downside of deep-access anti-cheats.
We’re in the modern age of multiplayer gaming, where kernel-level anti-cheat is somehow starting to feel… normal. Well, normal on paper at least. In reality, it’s anything but. And there is new drama surrounding the anti-cheats quite regularly. The latest one, however, is an anti-cheat feud that makes it seem like these systems are out to sabotage each other. Fire up Battlefield 6, and you’re greeted with an error telling you to uninstall Valorant because it is a “conflicting software.” Shady? Oh, absolutely. Let’s break it down.
Battlefield 6 and Valorant Can’t Run Simultaneously
If you haven’t been living under the combined rock of Roblox and gacha game trends, you probably know Battlefield 6 just pulled in its biggest open beta numbers ever. But not everything shiny is actually gold. The trouble kicked off when players on X started calling out EA and DICE for sneaking a kernel-level anti-cheat into BF6.
On the surface, everything seemed fine, until it wasn’t. Reddit user u/AnAveragePlayer posted a screenshot showing an error that flat-out tells you to uninstall Valorant if you want to play Battlefield 6.
If we go into details, Riot Games’ anti-cheat for Valorant and League of Legends, called Vanguard, is another kernel-level anti-cheat. While EA Javelin Anticheat is there to prevent cheating, it also clashes with Vanguard for a specific reason. Riot Games’ anti-cheat team, Phillip Koskinas, explained more on their X post, saying,
“Vanguard is compatible with Javelin, and you don’t need to uninstall one anti-cheat to use the other. However, BF6 does not currently allow the Valorant client to be running simultaneously, because both drivers race to protect regions of game memory with the same technique.”
What Does It Actually Mean for a Gamer?
Simply put, you can’t run Battlefield 6 and Valorant at the same time. In my case, the error never popped up because I keep Riot Vanguard disabled on startup. But if you play a round of Valorant and then try to fire up Battlefield 6, boom, the error message appears. This happens after Vanguard boots up and secures its part of the memory region on the root level. Even closing the service won’t be enough at times. Thanks to secure boot and TPM 2.0 requirements, you’ll probably have to restart your PC whenever you switch between the two.
But Is the Great Anti-Cheat Clash Worth It?
In short, EA’s new Javelin anti-cheat and Riot’s Vanguard can’t get along. Think of it like two overprotective bouncers fighting over who gets to check your bag (quite literally). Both dig into your PC’s memory at the same level, and both think they’re the only ones allowed to be there.
If we simply go by the words of Riot’s anti-cheat lead, Phillip Koskinas, the anti-cheat protects the same regions of memory with the same technique. Which means that your computer is caught in the middle of a custody battle. Riot is already (in)famous for its Vanguard anti-cheat that sneaks in the files in your PC that even you don’t know exist. Despite going deep into your security and forgetting that privacy is even a thing, it cannot prevent cheaters.
On the other hand, EA says Javelin stopped over 330,000 cheating attempts that weekend, yet cheaters still dropped within hours. Entire lobbies were fearing the auto-aimers like it’s a Halloween movie. So, whether it is a root-level cheat or not, cheaters slide through like it is just a matter of one button click for them. And, even if you don’t like it, to play the game, you must fix the error and give in.
How to Fix Battlefield 6 Valorant Uninstall Error
No, no, it is not necessary to uninstall Valorant from your device. For now, the fix is simple: close Valorant completely before launching Battlefield 6. If you have Riot Client stopped from startup boot options, that is even better. No background processes, no sneaky startup. Most players won’t ever run into this problem, but it shows how fragile these systems are when stacked together.
What are your thoughts on the anti-cheat issues in the new multiplayer games? Do you think games like Battlefield 6 or Valorant are doing the right thing by adding a kernel-level anti-cheat on your PC? Do share your opinion in the comments.
