In the esports world, the KOI-Riot enterprise is a major scandal and making big waves across the world. What really is going on?? According to a recently surfaced report by Sheep Esports, Movistar KOI were allegedly told time and time again about breaches of their contract; this is a total contradiction to the statements given by different members of the organization to the press.
Riot stated that the organization was flagged for these infringements time and time again throughout the 2024 season. KOI members admitted that Riot had here and there raised a few concerns but that the club was struggling with complications in the aftermath of merger situation. The alleged formal warning of January 2025 was the first one from Riot. In May, the parties again met in Berlin and discussed those issues in detail between Riot and Fernando Piquer, CSO at OverActive Media, KOI’s parent concern. Piquer gave an account of the projects and orthographic processes the team had done to solve the problem.
Things get really nasty-almost like an “in-your-face-kick”-this little detail: the couple claims that while they were negotiating with Riot on the 2026 bundle, they were left with the feeling that their status in the league was no longer any kind of matter of concern.
The reaction from the community has been absurd. Might even see some players taking sides. Some are shaming KOI for refusing to accept responsibility-only for @UFellForIThaha to boldly say, “surprise surprise koi not taking accountability.” And on the other hand, so many rose up against Riot and @gregorykrakatoa just screamed, “RIOT GAMES EQUALS CLOWNS,” so, okay.
So in those replies, there’s the whole fight about whether Riot really had the right to kick them out. @Van0Jc is arguing that performance has nothing to do with it, since the year to decide about performances and bundle sales is 2027, not now. They’re saying Riot can’t kick a team because of that if they have to respect the contract.
But boom! @Peppe_Postooo fired back: “I love koi meat riders, we all know riot did this for a second purpose (M8 probably), but the reality is that koi failed so many times and riot had the right to kick them out without a warning.” M8 keep coming up with several comments, causing some to believe that another team is waiting to fill KOI’s spot.
The drama surrounding the co-streams keeps getting people angry, especially from the Ibai episode. @Mjkhh_ pointed out that two months ago, Ibai was co-streaming League of Legends games that his team wasn’t involved in, which interestingly clashes with the narrative that he couldn’t handle the Valorant co-streaming obligations. Yet @dandinotro countered with that ibai had offered to stream every riot game’s esports, replacing himself in valo and league with other co-streamers, and riot agreed to that.
There’s a whole bunch of players that are heated about the journalistic side. @PoPe_Official_ went off with the following: “El periodismo debe usarse a favor del pueblo, no de las empresas,” meaning “Journalism should be used in favor of the people, not companies,” accusing the reporting of being Riot propaganda. @jein330 from KOI basically said they can see where the reporting is coming from money-wise, which is a pretty big accusation.
It’s an all-so-messy he said vs she said type of argument. @JupiterMorg went on to say a somewhat interesting thought: “Someone is obviously lying here, if it’s KOI then they are just shameless liars playing the victim. If it’s Riot then this is very serious, ripping a contract without a real reason is something they can’t do, if they still proceeded with it then KOI should sue them.”
And then you’ve got the randoms like @ammreFPS begging for “bring back rogue💔,” so-oh-mood but unrelated?
Getting personal now. Regional attacks kicked off when @FiiiiiReex said to an NA fan, “U are an NA fan where esports are dead 😂😂,” so now we have regional warfare?
The whole thing just feels messy and all foggy. Both sides point fingers at each other, and this community is split as to what really is the truth. Now Riot says they warned KOI multiple times, while KOI says they were working on fixes and that everything was cool. KOI is now out of the league, and this is what’s being argued on Twitter.
What is interesting though, is how this is increasing the scale of distrust for both organizations, including distrust for the league itself. What is strikingly scary is that if teams can be thrown out because they believe that they are actually resolving issues with Riot. But in case KOI was really not fulfilling the other side of the bargain-engaging definition, no matter how many warnings, Riot almost has been forced to make a hard call.
There’s always the worry of timing, as evidenced by everybody putting out the notion that M8 will replace them. Like is this really about contract breaches, or is there something else going on behind the scenes? The community definitely feels like there is more to the story than what is being told publicly.
At the end of the day, this is just another Swiss cheese of an esports story that showcases how messy things get when it comes to big money, contracts, and the community-driven emotions. Both sides are possibly stretching the truth a little, with the real story lying somewhere in the middle. One thing for sure-the Valorant esports campaign sure is never going to be the same after this whole mess being finalized.
