New League of Legends LGBT character censored in some regions

Riot games has said that League of Legends’ first gay Black character will be censored in some regions.

K’Sante, the latest playable character to be added to League of Legends, will be censored in countries with legal restrictions on the depiction of LGBT+ people, according to a Sky News interview with executive producer Jeremy Lee. Despite Lee saying that he was “very proud” of the character, he admitted that “each region can localise and publish that story in what they feel like is best for the players”, adding that different regions may change or omit certain aspects of the game to “fit into the local culture”.

Riot’s global public relations lead Hanna Woo argued that despite the censorship in those regions, the character’s identity will still be seen by players.

“Even if it’s not explicit, even if it’s not direct, even if there are changes made, or things are just not as much in the forefront of that character’s identity, it’s like you are meant to see them.”

The news comes after an extensive marketing campaign for the League of Legends Worlds 2022 featuring prominent gay Black musician Lil Nas X. The campaign had the singer take over the official League of Legends Twitter account for a short time, feature heavily in ads played across the internet, and even perform live at the tournament’s opening ceremony.

In a prior interview with the Washington Post, K’Sante’s lead narrative writer Michael Luo said that Riot wanted to ensure there was a “real, romantic relationship” on display. Luo said that the company wanted to “do as much as [it] could’’ to show that K’Sante and his partner Tope had a meaningful romantic relationship.

League of Legends’ Worlds 2022 championship saw a combined 5.1 million concurrent viewers during its final, which sets a new record for esports viewing according to reporting by Eurogamer. The final saw esports team DRX face off against T1, in what ended in an electric 3-2 win for DRX. The new world champs previously caused a stunning upset at the League of Legends semi-finals after they defeated #1 Korean League seed team Gen.G in an impressive 3-1 victory.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.