The Russian Computer Sports Federation has discontinued its League of Legends (LoL) tournament due to the presence of LGBTQ characters in the game, according to the organization's president, Dmitry Smith, who gave an interview to the Moscow-based broadcaster RTVI.
Smith stated that Riot Games, the game’s Los Angeles-based developer, “pursues an aggressive policy in promoting LGBT issues, which conflicts with Russian laws.”
RTVI cited Smith as saying that around 15 professional gamers from Russia are now competing in foreign LoL leagues. Several coaches have also moved abroad, with “the path to Europe” being “the only way into esports” for Russian professional gamers at the moment, according to Smith:
“The demand for Russian players [after the start of the ‘special military operation’] has remained the same. Rather, the demand for Russian players to play on foreign teams and relocate has increased. This is especially true for League of Legends, the path to Europe [for Russian players in this discipline] is the only way into esports at the moment.”
In 2022, Riot Games announced that it would add LGBTQ characters to the game. A year later, the parents of several gamers from Russia’s Dvizhenye Pervykh movement (lit. “Movement of the First”) complained about “LGBT propaganda” in League of Legends.
Repression against Russia’s LGBTQ+ community has intensified since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Late 2022 saw a tightening of the Russian law banning the propaganda of so-called “non-traditional sexual relations,” and in early 2023, the law began to be widely enforced. A ban on gender transition followed in July 2023, and in late 2023 Russia's Supreme Court labeled the non-existent “international LGBT movement” as an extremist group. The new legislation triggered a wave of raids on LGBTQ+ establishments all over Russia.
League of Legends was released by Riot Games in 2009, going on to become one of the world’s most popular computer games in the multiplayer online battle arena genre. The League of Legends World Championship, the game’s annual professional tournament, has become one of the world's most prestigious and watched competitions and is the most-watched esports event in the world.
The Championship’s 2023 edition became the most-viewed esports event of all time, with over 6.4 million concurrent viewers at peak hours.
RTVI is a Moscow-based international Russian news network with reported ties to Rostec’s Sergey Chemezov, a close ally and personal friend of Vladimir Putin.
Cover image: League of Legends character K’Sante was unveiled as the game’s first-ever LGBTQ black champion in 2022. Source: League of Legends.