League of Legends Dev Tracker

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 d...

Thanks OP - I very much appreciate this sentiment but also understand that players who love skins get frustrated about having to pay more for them.

You're right though that those purchases pay for everything else Riot does, not just the cost of making the skin, which is why we sometimes have to raise prices to effectively cover our costs. And the other great thing about selling skins (as opposed to power or progression) is that when your opponent buys one, you actually benefit (by getting to enjoy it) rather than suffer (by having to compete against it).

So we feel pretty good about our business model which helps us get through the negative feedback that comes on days like this.

Fair question and that would be the ideal answer if our costs were declining each year instead of increasing. We employ many hundreds of talented artists and many more hundreds of talented engineers to improve the game and the surrounding tech, and also invest increasing amounts in other areas. So we need to maintain the revenue that comes in from skins if we are going to continue that investment.

The euro was $1.20 when we made the last price adjustment in 2015. At the time we chose to only increase euro prices 10% even though the currently had moved closer to 20% from the 2009 launch. We absorbed the cost of the difference in the hope that the euro would rebound and bring prices back in balance.

The UK has seen multiple price changes, including a price decrease in 2015 when the pound was showing strength. Unfortunately the weakness caused by the Brexit uncertainty has persisted, and while we didn't pass the full amount onto players originally, choosing to absorb some of it ourselves, we are doing so now.

The average skin on the League site will now cost about 8 euros, but you're right that the average NEW skin is a little less than 10 euros given that 1350 RP skins have become the norm. We made that change only because players repeatedly told us that they preferred the higher quality skins, even at the higher cost. Otherwise we'd be making more skins, but at a lower price and complexity of changes.

Posted this on the main thread but copying here for visibility.

1380 RP is correct.

When League of Legends was released in October 2009, 10 euro was worth $1.49 and today 10 euro is worth $1.13, a decline of 24%.

In October 2009 EU players received 1780 RP for 10 euro and after this change will receive 1380 RP, a decline of 22.5%.

That 1380 RP is the same as US players receive for $10 and is just enough to cover a 1350 RP skin. The reason those amounts are the same even though a euro is worth $1.13 is because EU countries charge Riot VAT averaging 20% meaning we still receive slightly less $ when a EU player purchases RP compared to an NA player.

That’s a reasonable question. Unfortunately the costs of running and supporting League are mostly in dollars as the majority of Rioters work in the US. Every year those costs increase not just due to inflation but also the increasing investments we make in the tech, the game, esports, etc, and in supporting the game around the world. And currency movements impact our ability to make those investments, either positively or negatively, but unfortunately have been almost entirely negative since 2009.

1380 RP is correct.

When League of Legends was released in October 2009, 10 euro was worth $1.49 and today 10 euro is worth $1.13, a decline of 32%.

In October 2009 EU players received 1780 RP for 10 euro and after this change will receive 1380 RP, a decline of 29%.

That 1380 RP is the same as US players receive for $10 and is just enough to cover a 1350 RP skin. The reason those amounts are the same even though a euro is worth $1.13 is because EU countries charge Riot VAT averaging 20% meaning we still receive slightly less $ when a EU player purchases RP compared to an NA player.

While I understand the pain caused by prices increases, we are not trying to obfuscate anything and want to be open with you about the changes we are making and the reasons for them. Here are the facts:

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 pass along the majority of the VAT cost to players and receive roughly similar $ from RP purchased in NA and EU.

3) One euro is now worth $1.13 which is 36 cents or 24% lower than at launch

4) We have lowered the RP amounts for a €10 purchase in EU by ~22.5% in that time frame, roughly matching the change in currency prices. While the bulk of the currency move happened abruptly in 2014, we decided not to adjust pricing the full amount at that time, and hoped the currenc...

The average skin in the League store is a little over 1000 RP which equates to less than 8€ at the new prices, although the average new skin is closer to 10€. Additionally, many skins are purchased on discounts through weekly sales or bundles or My Shop, so the average spent per skin is less.

That said, we do understand that in many countries that is still too high which is one reason we began giving more skins to players for free in recent years through Hextech Crafting.

All of our agents are empowered and encouraged to write in their own voice and from their own point of view. We definitely use macros and automation for certain things when it's operationally necessary or we simply need to answer as many questions as possible due to the size of the queue (account recovery or certain first-touch interactions are good examples), but everybody you talk to in PS is a real person who plays League. Our PS agents often are some of the community's strongest advocates, helping us get the full scope of "player pain" out there and allowing us to better talk to dev teams about it (yes Riot uses that phrase and yes I know it sounds kinda unsettling in a vague but friendly way).

So there's plenty of missing context here. First, the ban itself was justified. Second, the question the agent answered - after respectfully explaining the ban and the reasons for it - was pretty much obvious bait.

At this point in the back-and-forth with the agent, OP sarcastically asked whether they should just go AFK in games rather than asking the other team to report their teammates. They said they'd do that next time (neither are great options, btw). The agent responded, as you can see in the lovely image above, and the player then doubled-down, vowing to "ALWAYS" go AFK in games rather than let any negativity seep through.

There's a lot to unpack here, and I don't really like to jump in threads like this, but it's pretty glaringly posted in bad faith.

Btw If you're looking out for your self-interest, Leaverbuster IS probably better than getting permabanned for extreme negativity and harassing your teammates in about the least productive way possible. ...

Not gonna lie, the moment we took everything down was both exciting and scary at the same time.. the old studio was always "There" so taking it down felt like removing the good old safety net that has always been there for you right before making a leap of faith.. But! Everything turned out great and I am super proud of the team and what was accomplished in such a short timeframe. Glad you guys like it ! This is just the begining for the LEC, so let's see what comes next :)

No idea, but Phreak was standing behind that screen the entire show.