As first reported by Polygon, Riot Games released a clarification/apology Tweet on Thursday, stating that VALORANT character Killjoy is staunchly not into NFTs, the controversial crypto-technology that has left gamers divided.
The statement follows a depiction of the character looking at NFT computer-generated artwork from Martinhoura at a local museum in Berlin. The now-deleted Tweet was part of a series of Tweets hosted on the German VALORANT Twitter page, which featured Killyjoy experiencing the sounds and sights of her home city.
"Whoopsie! We're always trying to give you new experiences and interesting facts on our local channels, including a loot into Killjoy and her hometown of Berlin," Riot said in their apology Tweet. "Since Killyjoy loves programming, we wanted to introduce you to computer-generated art from around the world, However, we were not aware that the selected work was an NFT. In no way did we intend to include NFTs as part of Killjoy's work and hobbies."
The Tweet makes it clear that Killjoy is not interested in NFTs, as Riot attempts to distance itself from the increasingly controversial technology. The original Tweet was deleted shortly after posting, but not before numerous people voiced their distaste for NFTs and for the implication that Killjoy would include trading NFTs in her list of hobbies.
NFTs, or Non-Fungible Tokens, are a token on the blockchain that confirms the purchase of a digital, or in some cases non-digital, product. The technology has come under fire for numerous reasons, with many gamers specifically seeing it as a cash grab, while others criticize the environmental impacts of blockchain technology and the speculative nature of the current NFT market.
