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Valorant x Balenciaga: Viper becomes Balenciaga's first digital brand ambassador. September 24, 2026 Riot Games has announced a partnership between Valorant and luxury fashion house Balenciaga. The controller agent Viper is now Balenciaga's first digital brand ambassador, and the deal is tied directly to Valorant Champions Shanghai 2026. Riot broke the news on its Chinese Valorant channels on September 23, 2026, one day before Champions began. The Valorant Balenciaga collaboration has two main parts. A limited-time concept gaming café in Shanghai and Balenciaga's first pair of gaming glasses, the NEO FOCUS. No in-game skins or clothing line have been announced. What is the Valorant Balenciaga partnership? Brand ambassador roles normally go to actors, athletes, and musicians. This time, Balenciaga gave the title to a playable character. Viper is the first digital figure to hold it. Riot Games China made the announcement and released a short trailer showing the café and the glasses. Balenciaga is a Paris-based house founded by Spanish designer Cristóbal Balenciaga, and this is its first partnership with Riot. Valorant Balenciaga café in Shanghai: dates and location. The concept gaming café is on Yongyuan Road in Shanghai. It opens on September 24 and closes on October 18, 2026. Those dates cover the full run of Champions, from the first group stage match to the grand final. Early reports describe the space as both a gaming café and a Balenciaga concept store. Riot has not yet shared opening hours, ticket details, or whether visitors need to book ahead. Discover more Gaming Reference & Reviews Shooter Games Sports News The NEO FOCUS is a pair of blue light glasses made for gaming. It is the first time Balenciaga has released eyewear built for gamers. The glasses are only available during the collaboration period. Balenciaga has not confirmed the price, stock levels, or sales outside China.

HEARTSTEEL Live My Life skins in League of Legends: price, release date, and all 6 champions. September 23, 2026 Riot Games has revealed the HEARTSTEEL Live My Life skins for League of Legends. The new collection covers all six members of the virtual boy band: Aphelios, Ezreal, Kayn, K'Sante, Sett, and Yone. The reveal came on September 22, 2026. It followed the release of the band's second single, "Live My Life," a few days earlier. The skins are already playable on the Public Beta Environment (PBE), and they will reach live servers with the next patch. This guide covers the release date, the price of each skin, how to get Prestige Sett, and what changed from the 2023 collection. HEARTSTEEL Live My Life skins release date. The official League of Legends account on X confirmed the launch with a short message: HEARTSTEEL Live My Life debuts with Patch 26.20. Patch 26.20 is scheduled for October 7, 2026. Riot's official LoL patch schedule notes that patches go out on Wednesdays in Pacific Time unless stated otherwise, and dates can move, so it is worth checking the page a day or two before launch. Until then, the skins can be tested on the PBE. Skins on the test server can still change in price, visuals, or effects before they go live. HEARTSTEEL Live My Life skins price. Five of the six skins are Epic tier and cost 1350 RP (about $10). Sett is the exception: his skin is a Prestige version tied to the paid Season 3 Act 2 battle pass. None of the new skins are among the Legendary skins in League of Legends, which normally cost 1820 RP. In the 2023 collection, HEARTSTEEL Kayn was the only Legendary skin in the line. All six HEARTSTEEL Live My Life skins. Live My Life Aphelios: 1350 RP. Aphelios is HEARTSTEEL's instrumentalist and songwriter. His 2023 HEARTSTEEL skin was his first to show his sister Alune in person, who acts as the band's manager. Live My Life Ezreal: 1350 RP. Ezreal is the band's vocalist. BAEKHYUN is the only singer from the 2023 lineup who returns on the new track, again voicing Ezreal. Live My Life Kayn: 1350 RP. Kayn is the band's rapper and instrumentalist. Nic D voices him on "Live My Life," taking over from Cal Scruby. Live My Life K'Sante: 1350 RP. K'Sante is a co-leader and vocalist. Anderson .Paak provides his voice on the new single. Prestige Live My Life Sett: battle pass. Sett shares the co-leader role with K'Sante and handles rap. Connor Price is his new voice. Live My Life Yone: 1350 RP. Yone keeps his role as the band's producer. Riot has not credited an outside artist for Yone or Aphelios on either single. How to get Prestige Live My Life Sett. Prestige Sett is not sold for RP. Players need to buy the paid Season 3 Act 2 pass and progress through it to unlock the skin. Before the reveal, data miner SkinSpotlights claimed there would also be a separate Prestige skin in the Classic Act 2 Pass. Riot's September 22 reveal only named Prestige Sett, so any second Prestige skin is still unconfirmed. About the Live My Life song. The music video for "Live My Life" went live on Friday, September 18, 2026, at 8:55 a.m. PT. It is on the official League of Legends YouTube channel, and the track is available on major streaming platforms. The single was released through Riot Games and Virgin Music Group. Jon Bellion, Pete Nappi, Elijah Noll, and Johnny Simpson wrote the track. It is HEARTSTEEL's first new song in about three years, following the debut single "PARANOIA" in October 2023. Early streaming numbers were lower than the debut. According to the League Charts account, "Live My Life" drew 192,000 Spotify streams on its partial first day, while "PARANOIA" reached 1.3 million on day one. How the new skins compare to the 2023 HEARTSTEEL collection. The original seven HEARTSTEEL skins launched on November 8, 2023, in Patch 13.22, during Worlds. Six were regular store skins, and Prestige HEARTSTEEL Yone was an event reward bought with Worlds tokens. The 2026 collection is smaller and cheaper overall. It has five Epic skins and one Prestige skin, with no Legendary option. The Prestige skin has also moved from Yone to Sett, and from an event token shop to the battle pass. What else is coming for Riot's music groups. HEARTSTEEL is the only group Riot has officially brought back so far this act. Other groups are tied to reports and leaks. Reports say K/DA registered a new song titled "Watch Me" with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Leak accounts also claim True Damage is returning. Leaks have been part of recent skin cycles, similar to the leaked League of Legends skin lines in 2025. Outside the main game, HEARTSTEEL cards were teased for the Riftbound trading card game. HEARTSTEEL Live My Life skins FAQ. When do the HEARTSTEEL Live My Life skins come out? They release with League of Legends Patch 26.20 on October 7, 2026. They are on the PBE now. How much do the new HEARTSTEEL skins cost? Aphelios, Ezreal, Kayn, K'Sante, and Yone cost 1350 RP each. Prestige Sett comes from the paid Season 3 Act 2 pass. Are any HEARTSTEEL Live My Life skins Legendary? No. All store skins in the collection are Epic tier. Who sings on HEARTSTEEL's "Live My Life"? BAEKHYUN (Ezreal), Anderson .Paak (K'Sante), Connor Price (Sett), and Nic D (Kayn).

VALORANT Voice Evaluation now better detects toxicity in Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean. Last updated: 2026/09/22 at 8:23 PM Riot Games is strengthening its fight against toxic voice chat in VALORANT with a major update to Riot Voice Evaluation in Patch 13.06. The improved system can now better identify abusive comms in Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean, giving Riot more tools to detect violations and penalize players across a wider part of the community. ADVERTISING This is not a one-off expansion, either. Riot says support for additional languages is already being worked on and will arrive over the coming months. * VALORANT Patch 13.06 improves Riot Voice Evaluation for Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean. * Riot says recent RVE improvements helped it identify and penalize twice as many cases of voice comms abuse over the past year. * More language improvements are planned for the coming months. * Players should report abusive voice chat through the in-game Voice Comms Abuse category. VALORANT Voice Evaluation adds Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean support. In its Playing with Respect announcement, Riot confirmed that Patch 13.06 updates its systems to better identify toxic voice communications in Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean. Riot Voice Evaluation, often shortened to RVE, is the in-game detection system used to evaluate reported voice communications and help Riot determine when its behavioral policies have been violated. The technology has continued to evolve since its initial rollout, and the latest expansion should make moderation more effective for players who communicate in languages beyond English. The company did not reveal which languages will be added next. However, Riot confirmed that improvements for more languages are expected in the months ahead. Riot says RVE is catching twice as much voice abuse. The language expansion comes alongside broader improvements to Riot Voice Evaluation. According to Riot, changes made to RVE helped the company identify and penalize twice as many instances of voice comms abuse over the last year. And obviously that matters in a tactical shooter where clear communication can decide a round. Enemy locations, utility timing, site executes, and retake plans all depend on players being able to speak without the channel being taken over by harassment, threats, hate speech, or spam. Riot is not trying to remove every heated exchange from VALORANT. The developer acknowledged that trash talk is a natural part of competition. Its general rule is simple: keep the comments about the game rather than attacking the person behind the screen. Repeated personal attacks, threats, identity-based harassment, hate speech, and slurs cross that line and can lead to penalties. Player reports still play an important role. Even with improved automated detection, Riot says player reports remain an important part of the moderation process. Reports help identify incidents that need to be evaluated and give Riot a chance to take action when someone violates its policies. Players who experience abusive voice chat should use the Voice Comms Abuse category in the in-game reporting menu. Riot also warned that responding to toxicity with more abuse can result in penalties for everyone involved. Players can defend themselves, but that does not provide a free pass to use hate speech or make abusive personal attacks. Patch 13.06 marks another step in Riot's attempt to make VALORANT comms safer without stripping away the competitive edge that comes with the game. With Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean now receiving improved support and more languages on the way, RVE is becoming a much more global moderation tool. Ali Ahmed Akib is the Co-Founder and Editor-in-chief of GameRiv. Akib grew up playing MOBA titles, especially League of Legends and is currently managing the editorial team of GameRiv.