Riot’s monetization makes being a free-to-play League of Legends fan feel bad

I’ve been playing League of Legends since it was a plucky indie game run by a small crew, and while most things have changed over the last decade plus, one thing has always been consistent: League is a free-to-play game. Whether I’m on mobile or PC, I can hop on and crank out as many games as I please with no paywall, advertisements, or obstacles. But everything around the game itself, especially the champion cosmetics, has gotten more expensive and annoying to deal with.

I personally prefer playing League of Legends on mobile these days due to the shorter games and comfortable controls, but I have thousands of hours sunk in on PC. The core system for both games is simple: You can buy champions with IP (in-game currency) or RP (paid currency), and there’s a rotating “free” roster that allows players to sample from the huge smorgasbord of champions. Most people don’t spend money to get new characters — for Riot, the real money is in skins. Skins give characters a whole new look and splash art, and sometimes new voice lines and animations. 

In the early days of League, skins could be simple palette swaps, or the same champion in a slightly fancier shirt. In 2015, Riot released DJ Sona, an Ultimate skin with three unique models, each with its own custom soundtrack, that cost around $25. At the time, that was a surprising price tag compared to Legendaries, the tier under Ultimate, which was priced at around $14. There have been tweaks and regional changes, but the prices of Legendaries and Ultimates have remained fairly consistent over the years.

Now, in 2024, players are furious about gacha systems and limited-time unlocks that cost hundreds of dollars. For instance, there are two new Exalted skins — comparable with some Ultimate skins in terms of features — that can cost up to $250.

Arcane Fractured Jinx is a skin that allows you to play as the three different Jinxes that emerged throughout the course of Netflix’s Arcane TV show adaptation. There’s also Radiant Serpent Sett, a take on the Ionian pit boss character that casts him as a cool movie star who also fights crime IRL. Exalted Skins are rolled for in The Sanctum, a hub that lets players use a new currency called Ancient Sparks. Exalted skins are guaranteed to drop after 80 pulls, and Ancient Sparks cost 400 RP apiece, so the maximum cost for these skins is a shocking 32,000 RP — or $250 USD.

Wild Rift, the mobile port of League, has become absolutely clogged with opportunities to gamble for skins, earn new currencies with which to gamble, and new progression tracks and leaderboards for events I don’t understand. None of these things affect gameplay, but they’re additional systems stapled on to tempt the player into more microtransactions.

Fiend Queller Yone, an elaborate cosmetic with an animated splash screen that is impossible to ignore, requires the player to purchase an event currency and roll the dice. Every time I open my game, I’m assailed with pings and notifications for some new way to spend my money. On top of the Wild Pass, which is your usual battle pass, there’s the Stellar Bonds subscription fee that grants XP rewards and cosmetics in either basic ($7) or premium ($50) categories. 

Then there are Companions, little buddies who follow the champion around the rift. Companions have absolutely zero impact on gameplay, but they pick up little bits of currency for the player as they go through a match, and can be upgraded through an unlock system. 

Sometimes Riot actually offers a reasonable event, like an Arcane tie-in for Wild Rift that would have allowed me to earn Jinx and Vi skins. I missed this event under the sea of other notifications and advertisements, making it impossible to complete by the time I stumbled across it. When I first started playing Wild Rift, I looked forward to events — they were a neat way to unlock the occasional champion or cosmetic without spending money. Now, they’re just another piece of content drip-fed through a UI that hardly seems able to handle all the timed events and lotteries.

Yes, I can still jump into a game of League of Legends and play for free, and that’s nice. But the surrounding costs for skins, cosmetics, and events are either confusing and off-putting or overly expensive. These features aren’t sequestered off into their own corner; they’re promoted and pushed through the game’s main screen, and drown out the weekly challenges or occasional event I want to complete. Skins like DJ Sona or Elementalist Lux were once considered a fancy high-tier option. Now, the idea of buying those same skins for a mere $25 seems quaint. 

While the price has gone up, the technical limitations on skins remain the same. Elementalist Lux remains the most elaborate cosmetic in the game, with 10 unique forms — the Exalted Sett and Jinx skins only offer three.

It feels downright bad to be a free-to-player right now, even though I’m not as involved in the League of Legends ecosystem as I used to be. Wild Rift used to hand out occasional skins and regular rewards for logging in or playing a few games, and now it feels like it’s papered in gambling advertisements. League of Legends on PC is introducing two of the $250 Exalted skins, and their success will likely lead to more Exalted skins. The game itself is fine, but I’m disappointed to see so many money-sucks flagrantly pushed in my face.