Welcome back!

Sign in or create an account to enjoy GINX perks, enter competitions and access exclusive features.

GINX TV > News > League of Legends

Riot Games Turkey receives backlash after Pride Event rebrand to Color Festival

The rebranding of the Pride Event caused due to Turkish regulations around the LGBT+ communities has sparked many questions and harsh comments.
Riot Games Turkey receives backlash after Pride Event rebrand to Color Festival

As part of their intentions to celebrate diversity around the LGBT+ communities, Riot Games recently revealed all info about the rewards and content that arrived in all of their titles, thanks to the 2021 Pride Celebration in support of the IDAHOTB. However, even with all the announcements related to this special event, including new merch that will be available through their online store in collaboration with It Gets Better Project, a controversy has sparked around the Riot’s offices in Turkey after they revealed the event under the name “Color Festival”.

Color Festival backlash

As some may know, some countries around Europe and Asia still look at the Pride movement as a taboo, reaching to a point of censoring and punishing all people and collectives in favour of the LGBT+ community, with one of the most criticized being the Turkish government.

Riot Games Turkey backlash Pride LGBTQ+ Color festivalEvent page translated from Riot Turkey’s website (Picture: Riot Games)

This time is no exception, as it was reported at the end of 2020 by the BBC that all merchandise (including video games) that include references related to the Pride celebrations has to be marked as +18 products, or else risk to be marked as illegal by the Turkish Ministry of Commerce.

And while they deemed this decision was stated “for the protection of children”, this is just another documented case of censorship behind a conservative government, with many fans of the game showing displeasure around this on Twitter.

 

One of the users who came to report this, also disclosed captures related to a support ticket regarding the event, with Riot stating that the title of the event is due "to the work of the localization area, after a lot of research has been carried out."

At the moment, neither Riot Games or its Turkey offices has given comments around this, however it is more than likely the complicated situation in the European country that has been the one affecting the true purpose of this celebration, which is to promote tolerance and respect among all their players.

Check out our dedicated League of Legends section for news, updates, esports events and more.