Bad news for Arcane fans! While the animated series has been a massive hit among League of Legends players and non-players alike, the recently announced second season has already been canceled. Riot Games has banned everyone involved in the show’s production after learning that one of its major settings is the city of Zaun, a toxic underground environment teeming with both bigoted attitudes and hazardous chemicals. Zaun has been accused of having a “problematic, unwelcoming culture” and “regularly poisoning its inhabitants with countless dangerous substances in the air, food, and drinking water.”
“We take these accusations very seriously,” said Riot Games in an official statement. “Using hateful language or griefing your teammates are not the only offenses which may result in a permanent ban. We strive to curb toxicity in all its forms, so when we learned that numberless Zaunites had been affected by hate speech, discrimination, and bizarre, esoteric biohazards, we knew we had to take action. No one is immune to our community guidelines, least of all our own staff.”
Many of Arcane’s characters are shown to assault or even murder numerous people, including civilians and children, throughout the show’s nine episodes. One of the worst offenders, a violent crime lord named Silco, produces a potent and dangerous drug called “shimmer” which has unspeakable effects on the human body, poisoning its many addicts in the long term and transforming them into mindless, hulking mutants. It’s apparent that Zaun doesn’t even have a universal healthcare program.
It’s sickening to see this level of depraved violence uncritically endorsed by the Arcane team, and it’s a wonder that it went unnoticed by Riot for so long. Despite the company’s decisive action, both employees and fans have expressed doubt that Riot will address this issue competently, especially after learning that the staff who had their accounts banned will continue to work for the company indefinitely.
It’s not clear how the twisted minds behind Arcane conceptualized this bleak, carcinogenic dystopia, but experts have speculated that it may have resulted from over-exposure to the video game League of Legends.
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