Riot issues apology as Valorant community erupts over Killjoy's interest in NFTs

Valorant stands tall in the world of FPS gaming owing to a variety of factors, one of them being the active communication between game developers and the community.

Since its mid-2020 release, Riot Games has been diligent in implementing the changes requested by the community. However, a recent tweet from Valorant's German Twitter handle has caused a stir in the gaming community.

The post, which indicated Killjoy's ties to NFTs, was not appreciated by the game's audience, who called for immediate revision. Riot Games returned with an apology, justifying their side of the situation.

Killjoy, a tech-savvy Sentinel from Germany, took over Valorant's official Twitter handle as part of an agent takeover series carried out by Riot Games. Soon after Skye concluded her journey across Vietnam, the German genius took fans through her hometown.

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Valorant devs clarify that Killjoy is not a fan of NFTs

Killjoy took Valorant's Twitter audience around for a tour of Germany, showing a glimpse of her favorite activities. From having her favorite Kebab to playing League of Legends, we see the Agent doing a variety of enjoyable things.

However, one activity in particular caught the eye of viewers and caused a stir within the Twitter community.

In a now-deleted Tweet, Riot Games posted a picture of Killjoy admiring a piece of art in a museum. The artwork used in the image was being sold as digital art in the form of NFTs.

This caused Valorant's Twitter community to erupt. Killjoy has the most cheerful and loving presence out of all the agents in Valorant's roster. Adored by the entire player base, Twitter audience couldn't believe Killjoy would openly be in favor of NFTs.

Based on the explosive reaction from the community, it's fair to assume that most of the Valorant playerbase are not admirers of NFTs. Riot Games tagging Martin Houra, the owner of the artwork, added fuel to the flames as hundreds of people expressed their displeasure with the situation.

Riot Games removed the original post shortly after, replacing it with a heartfelt apology.

According to Riot, their intention was to introduce viewers to computer generated art from all over the world, and under no circumstances did they mean to promote NFTs. Riot stated in their tweet:

"We were not aware that the selected work was an NFT. In no way did we intend to include NFTs as part of Killjoy's work and hobbies."

Luckily, Riot rectified their errors within a short period and reduced the density of the aftermath.

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Community's reaction to the tweet

The game's Twitter community was quick to react to the post, as several fans were clear in expressing their resentment. However, as soon as the matter was cleared, everyone could let out a sigh of relief as Killjoy was back to being herself.

One post suggested the move from Killjoy was out of character due to the Agent’s nature as a technological genius. Meanwhile, several users were confused as to Riot's intention to post on the subject, wondering if it was authorized by Riot's main team.

Several Twitter users were surprised once the post emerged and reacted accordingly.

Despite the initial surprise, Riot was quick to clarify the issue, with some viewers acknowledging the developers' close relationship with the community, which led to Valorant Germany rectifying their error.

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What are NFTs?

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) are quite a controversial topic in the technological sphere. The concept of NFTs stands on thin ice in the real world, with outrageous power consumption, economic risks, and exposure to art theft being some issues that need to be mended.

NFTs are not new to the gaming universe. Ubisoft, one of the biggest gaming companies in the world, has entered the realm of NFTs with their Ubisoft Quartz, which was introduced to Ghost Recon Breakpoint in December 2021.

Similarly, companies like EA, Take-Two Interactive and Epic Games have expressed interest in utilizing NFTs to improve the standard gaming experience.