Viral ‘Sage mommy’ post shows how well Riot knows the VALORANT audience

Riot Games has been bringing players closer and closer to the agents that define VALORANT, but a Sunday morning Twitter post brought fans and players something they desperately needed: acknowledgment from mommy.

The post shows the trio of Neon, Sage, and Jett on a plane together in the same row, via a selfie “picture” taken by Sage sitting in the middle. The caption, implied to be written by Sage herself, says that Jett “mumbled something about ‘middle seat mommy’ before dozing off.”

Needless to say, the post and its crystal clear reference to the “Sage mommy” meme attracted a lot of attention. It’s one of the most viewed posts on the VALORANT Twitter over the year so far, with over 2.6 million post views and over 67,300 likes at time of writing. Of all the posts from January on the official VALORANT account, only the Jan. 1 teaser for Episode Six has garnered more views and likes, but “middle seat mommy” Sage could easily pass that in just a short time.

Riot diving into posts about VALORANT agents that really connect with fans is something it’s done in the past, treating the agents as unique characters with their own personalities and lives, outside of the competitive and unrated games VALORANT players use them in. One of the most popular instances of this was the long-awaited reveal of the first in-game couple, Killjoy and Raze, which has roughly 10 times the likes of the recent Sage post and was met with widespread adoration.

Be sure to thank mommy Sage in your games today (respectfully, as always).