#Riot

EU takes action against Activision, Riot, Ubisoft and seven others over in-game monetization

The EU announced action against ten companies including Activision Blizzard, Mojang, Ubisoft, Riot Games, Crytek, Supercell, InnoGames, King, Plarium and Playrix, led by the Italian Competition Authority, over platform-specific virtual currencies that rarely match the price players want to pay. The press release also cites virtual currency bundles, dark patterns, inadequate parental controls and a lack of assistance when accounts are blocked. Epic has said that starting this month players can spend exact amounts of V-Bucks on specific purchases, except on PlayStation.

Lana Del Rey to Play Delta Dawne and Co-Host Back Country Radio in GTA 6

Lana Del Rey is set to appear in GTA 6 as the character Delta Dawne, co-hosting the in-game Back Country Radio station alongside Morgan Wallen. Her husband, Jeremy Dufrene, will also voice the character Mud Dog Mike on the same station. Rockstar Games recently revealed GTA 6's in-game radio stations, which also feature Bad Bunny and Slayer's Kerry King and Tom Araya; the game launches November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

EU opens enforcement over in-game currency against nine companies including King, Supercell, Riot and Ubisoft, as two European game associations push back

On September 30 the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network announced coordinated enforcement against nine companies including King, Supercell, Mojang, Riot Games and Ubisoft over how in-game virtual currency is sold and managed, with Crytek, InnoGames, Plarium Europe and PLR Worldwide Sales also named. The same day, Video Games Europe and EGDF jointly objected, questioning the legal basis and arguing in-game currency is not a crypto-like digital representation of value, saying they had asked for that basis since spring 2025 without reply. The dispute centers on whether in-game currency counts as a digital representation of value, which would make each in-game exchange a new consumer contract with its own 14-day withdrawal notice; the associations offered six commitments including clear real-money pricing and refunds for unused currency within 48 hours, conditional on resolving the legal uncertainty.

Rockstar Says GTA 6 Won't Be 'Too Specific About Any Particular Person, Event, or Movement'

Rockstar senior vice president of narrative Rupert Humphries said GTA 6 will not be too specific about any particular person, event, or movement, since the games take a long time to make and would risk feeling dated. He noted that previous GTA games have never really focused on national politics, and that GTA 4's Homeland Security and Patriot Act themes stemmed from post-9/11 New York. GTA 6 launches on PS5 and Xbox Series consoles on November 19, 2026.

Riot anticheat head says hardware bans last four months

Riot anticheat head Phillip Koskinas asserts that the company's hardware bans last four months, and cannot "infect" other components when inserted into a new system.

Used CPU Report Raises Questions Over VALORANT Hardware Bans

A German VALORANT player says the game kicked them out immediately after installing a used Ryzen 7 5800X3D bought on the German marketplace Kleinanzeigen, and Riot support told them the CPU's ID or serial number had been blacklisted in Vanguard on August 12 over the previous owner's alleged cheating. The claim has not been independently confirmed by Riot, and the report notes that secondhand buyers cannot readily check whether a used component is tied to an anti-cheat flag before purchasing.

Valorant player claims to have inherited hardware ban through secondhand CPU, Riot anticheat boss disputes parts of story

Valorant player claims to have inherited hardware ban through secondhand CPU, Riot disputes story https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/valor...

Valorant Player Banned Due To Previous CPU Owner’s Cheating Ways

"While the CPC Network asserts it is applying existing laws, it appears to be extending them, potentially beyond permissible limits," say...

Riot exec says 2XKO needed hundreds of thousands to millions of MAU to sustain itself

Riot Games CPO Marc Merrill said 2XKO would have needed a monthly active user base "in the high hundreds of thousands, if not millions" to support its live-service model, and its actual audience was "not nearly enough." 2XKO ended active development in August because it cost substantially more to operate than it brought in and engagement stayed flat despite larger updates; it remains free to play on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S with servers online "beyond 2026." Merrill also cited Street Fighter 6's release as a factor and said leadership changes led to a lack of alignment on strategy and managerial fracturing.

Riot Games' 2XKO would have had to attract a base of monthly active users "in the high hundreds of thousands, if not millions" to be sust...

Riot Games Co-Founder Says 2XKO Needed Hundreds of Thousands, if Not Millions, of Monthly Active Players to Survive

Riot Games co-founder, co-chairman and chief product officer Marc Merrill said on The Lemonade Stand podcast that 2XKO would have needed monthly active player numbers in the high hundreds of thousands, if not millions, to justify its cost structure. He said Street Fighter 6's 2023 release disrupted their plans and that a lack of internal alignment caused managerial fracturing, so Riot issued full refunds and canceled further content updates after player numbers fell short of supporting the live-service design. Riot had already announced it would end active development after December 2026 while keeping online play supported.

EU CPC Network launches coordinated actions against nine companies over in-game currency

On 30 September 2026, the EU's Consumer Protection Cooperation Network launched coordinated actions against nine games companies to enforce the EU's Key Principles on in-game virtual currencies, covering titles such as Hunt: Showdown 1896, Candy Crush Saga, Minecraft, Valorant, Clash of Clans and For Honor, alongside a parallel action with Activision Blizzard UK over Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty Mobile. The CPC Network argues that purchases made with in-game currency should also show real-world prices, while the author notes that bundle pricing and earnable currency make real value hard to assign and could create duplicate notices and a double right of withdrawal. The author also points to inconsistency with the EU Commission's EU KIDS Act draft and a Digital Fairness Act draft expected in November.

Consumer Protection Cooperation Network launches coordinated actions against nine companies on in-game currency

European Commission Calls Out Riot, Activision, Mojang and More Over In-Game Currency and Transactions

The European Commission and the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network named nine game companies, including Activision Blizzard UK, Mojang AB, Riot Games Limited, Supercell Oy and Ubisoft EMEA SAS, in a joint statement on September 30, 2026, asking them to align their in-game currency and transaction systems with the Key Principles released in March 2025. The principles require games to show the real-world price of items bought with virtual currency, avoid obscuring costs through multiple currencies or exchanges, and let players withdraw from contracts within two weeks, including for unused virtual currency. Commissioner Michael McGrath said roughly half of Europeans play video games and the industry must ensure its games do not expose players, especially children, to harmful or unfair practices.

State of the Unions: the rise of unionisation in games workplaces

Unionisation in the games industry has grown rapidly over the past decade, with workers in more than 130 distinct groups and unions across over 15 countries organising together, according to IWGB Game Workers co-founder Austin Kelmore. Microsoft agreed a contract this week with 1,900 Blizzard workers covering hybrid work and AI protections, recall rights, minimum severance above industry standard and up to 34% wage increases. The Polish Gamedev Workers Union is officially established within ten Polish studios, though Poland's legal framework for unions still favours employers.

"A true world model must be a structured, interactive simulator"