League of Legends Censors Gragas 15 Years Later

In a surprising move, League of Legends developer Riot Games has announced some changes that have been made to Gragas’ abilities. The actual abilities themselves won’t be changing, so players that main the character don’t have to worry about having to adapt. However, some names themselves are being censored from the original versions. This will notably have an effect on abilities like “Drunken Rage.” This decision might seem pretty odd after all these years, but there’s a specific reason this is happening; according to League Studio head Andrei van Roon, this will help the game comply with age ratings in various regions.

“For anyone wondering – We’ve made some updates to Gragas’ ability names to remove ‘(Drunken)’ in order to stay compliant with age ratings across various regions. Feel free to pour one out for him if desired, but don’t worry, he still enjoys his brews even if he’s being very slightly more discreet about it,” van Roon wrote on X/Twitter.

The announcement has already led to some frustration from players, who feel that the change should have only been made in regions with stricter age ratings. In all likelihood, Riot Games wants to keep things as universal as possible, to prevent any future confusion. This is something we’re seeing a lot more frequently when it comes to games that are released worldwide. From a marketing and branding standpoint, it makes a lot of sense, especially for a game with a big global presence like League of Legends.

Overall, these changes might seem insignificant, but that’s not going to prevent some League of Legends fans from feeling salty about it. For the last decade or so, anything even remotely resembling censorship in the video game industry has been met with outcry on social media. Even though there’s a clear rationale for why Riot Games is making this change, it’s not shocking that fans are already venting about this. Hopefully most will get over these changes quickly, but it can sometimes be hard to tell what might become the next big gaming controversy.

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On the plus side, this situation might have inspired a new skin idea for Gragas. Following van Roon’s comments about Gragas being more discreet about his drinking, League of Legends commentator Barento “Raz” Mohammed joked that “he put a brown bag on it.” This prompted van Roon to claim that “brown paper bag Gragas” will now be getting pitched to the team responsible for the game’s skins. It remains to be seen whether that will actually materialize, but it could be a fun result of this particular situation. That just might help fans get over the change, while easing any concerns that this aspect of the character might be going away altogether!

How do you feel about these changes made to League of Legends? Do you think it makes sense to keep things universal between regions? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!