[2022] Justification for RP increases in Europe?

Sure here's a more detailed timeline of EU pricing.

1) When League launched in October 2009, one euro was worth $1.49.

2) League's initial pricing was $10 for 1380 RP in NA and €10 for 1780 RP in EU, representing a 29% difference for EU players as compared to the ~49% difference in currencies. This price was selected so that Riot would receive roughly similar $ from RP purchased in NA and EU, after accounting for the VAT we were required to pay for EU purchases.

3) By 2015, the euro had declined below $1.20 (a 19% decline) and we adjusted pricing by 11%, lowering the RP received for €10 to 1580 RP. We decided at the time to bear some of the cost of the euro decline in the hope that the euro would recover.

4) Instead the euro declined further and is currently at $1.13, 24% below our starting point, and so we are adjusting the value of €10 to 1380 RP, 22.5% below the original value.

5) Another way to look at it is that in October 2009, one US dollar spent on the EU server (after converting to euros) would purchase 119.5 RP and with the new pricing, one US dollar would purchase 122 RP, slightly higher. So the change in pricing matches the change in currency rates with a slight advantage to the EU player.

6) Steam, Apple and most other companies (although not all) also set EU prices with the intent to pass along VAT and equalize the money they receive from purchases in either NA and EU. With recent exchange rates fluctuating between $1.10 and $1.25, all three companies are now charging the same amounts in $ and €, for example $10 and €10 both now buy 1380 RP in League, and the extra value from the euro helps offset VAT.

I hope that helps and am happy to answer additional questions as well.

The UK pound was stronger than the dollar and euro earlier in the decade and so we raised the value of RP that players receive for purchasing in pounds in 2015. But then the Brexit vote happened and the pound dropped substantially, and similarly to the explanation above, we lowered the RP value in two stages to where it is now balanced with the value of the pound relative to the dollar and euro (and also incorporating VAT).

Yes it was adjusted in 2015 (more RP), 2017 (less RP) and 2019 (less RP) to reflect the movement of the pound. As with the euro, we did not make the full adjustment in 2017 because it would have been so large an impact to players, so we decided to absorb some of it ourselves and hope the currencies would recover.

We do everything possible to avoid breaking those thresholds, although we have had to do so at times when currencies move too far below them. So a safe assumption would be that as long as the value of the euro stays above one dollar, we won't even consider it even though we'll be absorbing more and more of the VAT cost, but once it crosses a dollar we'll have to start looking for solutions.

This is not a PR-approved answer (actually none of them are but the other ones probably could be), but the reality is that Russia is so dominated by DOTA and World of Tanks that the small Riot team there operates more independently as it tries to break through and achieve success in that market.

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