Riot is changing another esports team’s emote but players are on board this time

Riot Games has quietly altered another possibly contentious emote made by a professional League of Legends team, yet this time, players are not angered by the change.

Riot has made some adjustments to a pro team’s emote, but this time they have only altered the name of the cosmetic. The emote, originally designed by Vikings Esports from Vietnam, portrays K’Sante wearing a breathing mask and was previously known as “Lemme Breathe.”

In the United States, K’Sante, a black character, asking to breathe carries different implications compared to Vietnam, where it was created.

According to a tweet by user Spideraxe, Riot is renaming the emote to “Cope’Sante”in order to avoid any negative associations with real-life events and more accurately convey its intended message.

The VKE emote name was changed from VCS: VKE – Lemme Breathe to VCS: VKE – Cope’Sante pic.twitter.com/lUY6P98aQc

— Spideraxe (@Spideraxe30) September 2, 2024

Riot has had to modify three emotes between the initial reveal and rollout of the cosmetic bundle. Players were quick to point out the developer’s changes to the first two emotes, which were highly regarded as the top options in the bundle.

This modification, nonetheless, has been met with a sense of relief and astonishment from players who were stunned that the initial name of the cosmetic was included in the game.

On social media, one fan claimed that it was actually called “lemme breathe? ???”

Another fan expressed their satisfaction with the change, commenting, “Good,”on Twitter.

Riot has allowed teams to design their own emotes for League of Legends, giving them an opportunity to generate income from in-game item purchases, similar to the team capsules in Valorant. Teams will receive a percentage of the sales as a part of this arrangement.

Despite the smooth rollout of Valorant cosmetics, the emotes for League have sparked controversy among teams and the developer.