Riot Games Accused of Blocking Mastercard Discourse in VCT Chat

As multiple different parts of the art, entertainment, and gaming industries are being impacted by ongoing crackdowns from various payment processors, it appears that Riot Games is being directly asked by Mastercard to monitor esports livestreams for negative statements against the brand. 

Mastercard is a long-time sponsor for Riot Games, dating back to its September 2018 deal where the payment processor became the “first global partner” for League of Legends esports. That has since expanded to VALORANT and other activations, including things like the Mastercard Gamer Academy and more. 

However, as Mastercard comes under fire for an ongoing controversy regarding pressuring multiple platforms like Steam, itch.io, and other non-gaming entities to remove or restrict access to various items labeled as not safe for work (NSFW,) it looks like the company is getting a bit antsy about online sentiment. 

According to the statement shared with Esports on SI via an anonymous source active within Riot’s wider esports and content ecosystem, Mastercard “kindly asked” Riot to keep an eye out for comments during related livestream channels and events regarding “negative sentiment around [the payment processor.]” 

The statement notes that Riot hadn’t seen any of that negative sentiment around the Mastercard “controversy” related to Riot-owned properties. However, the person sending the statement did ask that instances of it bring brought up be forwarded to active moderators so “anything unusual” is flagged. 

As noted by responses to this leaked statement, Riot does not necessarily have an obligation to do this but appears to be directly siding with Mastercard in providing potential suppression within its event livestreams. 

During the VCT Americas Stage 2 streams on Aug. 8, Riot made the streams Follower/Subscriber only on both Twitch and YouTube, with that time increasing as more users started flooding the streams. One user shared that you needed to be following for an hour before chatting on Twitch initially, with another following that up less than 20 minutes later showing that the required time had been extended to a full day. 

Along with that, reports that any chat messages with mention of Mastercard or specific phrases were instantly deleted, with those users being timed out for varying “lengthy” durations. That is only the case on specific streams, however, as the NACL stream on YouTube was flooded with messages about the payment processor, with many viewers actively commenting on gameplay while alluding to Mastercard’s actions against NSFW games. 

This is the second time Riot has experienced controversy with sponsorship-related drama in the last two months, with the previous instance coming when the company announced it would be opening the door for official betting sponsorships for its esports ecosystem. 

The entire NSFW art and games crackdown goes beyond just Mastercard, but it is a major name adding to the controversy alongside others like Stripe, PayPal and Visa. This mainly impacts gaming and esports through what the restrictions could mean for Steam and itch.io, though it is also actively hitting content creators through changes being forced on Fansly and other platforms as of late too. 

Essentially, an anti-pornography group known as Collective Shout made moves to target games across platforms including Steam and itch.io that depicted things like rape or child sexual abuse in any capacity. This recently expanded to the point where Steam and itch.io began removing swaths of NSFW games, potentially numbering in the thousands, over the last two weeks as both platforms came under “scrutiny” from payment processors.

Mastercard has actively tried to distance itself from the anti-game censorship movement, with a statement saying it has “not evaluated any game or required restrictions of any activity on game creator sites and platforms, contrary to media reports and allegations.” Steam, however, pushed back on this, claiming that Mastercard communicated its intentions through other payment processors and related banks. 

“Mastercard did not communicate with Valve directly, despite our request to do so,” Valve said in a written statement to Kotaku. “Mastercard communicated with payment processors and their acquiring banks.  Payment processors communicated this with Valve, and we replied by outlining Steam’s policy since 2018 of attempting to distribute games that are legal for distribution. Payment processors rejected this, and specifically cited Mastercard’s Rule 5.12.7 and risk to the Mastercard brand.”

Hundreds of artists and game developers are worried that if movements like this aren’t stopped, the LGBTQ+ community will lose many of the communities and platforms that they helped build through their dedication to representation and years of work. Hence, the massive movement across social media to get everyone calling the involved payment processors to make sure this issue is heard, which is clearly working.

And it could go even further beyond, with ramifications for “mainstream” IP that feature NSFW depictions of any kind, such as Grand Theft Auto, which Collective Shout has rallied against in the past. Without clear boundaries or restrictions, any game could be viewed as controversial and targeted by these arbitrary pushes.

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“Whenever you open that Pandora’s box, you’re not impartial anymore,” Appcharge CMO Gil Tov-Ly said to GamesIndustry.biz. “Today it’s r*** games and incest, but tomorrow it could be another lobbying group applying pressure on LGBT games in certain countries.”

Esports on SI reached out to Riot Games for comment, but has not received a response.