Riot Games will now ban creators for bad conduct even if it's not said in-game

"If a creator uses hateful slurs on their stream but not in-game, we can still issue a penalty."

From 3rd January 2025, Riot Games will ban content creators for bad "off-platform conduct".

In a message posted to Valorant's social media channels, the developer said that "if a creator uses hateful slurs about an opposing player or teammate on their stream" - even if it's not via its in-game comms - it will "still issue a penalty as if that behaviour occurred in-game".

"Our intention with this update is to help protect players from harmful behaviours they can experience across the various places that touch their gaming experience," Riot explained.

"This update applies very specifically and only to content where Riot's games are the background of the content produced. Though we aren't going to proactively monitor everything that happens across social media, it is now within our rights to issue penalties in-game when that content is brought to our attention."

"As an example, if a creator uses hateful slurs about an opposing player or teammate on their stream, but not in-game over chat or voice comms, we can still issue a penalty as if that behaviour occurred in-game.

"TL;DR - if you say or do things that break our Terms of Service while broadcasting or creating content about our games, we can restrict access to your Riot accounts (and suspend your Partner privileges if you are part of our Partner Program)."

This is just the latest initiative from Riot to clamp down on toxicity in its playerbase. In a frank discussion about the "current state of player behaviour" in Valorant earlier this year, Riot Games' head Anna Donlon outlined upcoming changes designed "to make our community a better place".

Though Donlon acknowledged at the time that the development team had no plans to "sanitise gaming" or suppress harmless banter, she said players should not be expected to "grow a thicker skin" when playing video games.

"There's no room in our community for the most egregious behaviours, and we're not going to compromise on that point," she said.