Riot Games just announced that massive price changes are coming across all of their game in 2024.
Riot Games is one of the most popular video game companies of all time. They have made several games that are like some of the most played games ever like League of Legends, Valorant, TFT, etc. Their main strategy for making these games popular is to make them easily accessible. And the easiest way to do that is by making these games free to play.
When League of Legends was released as a free-to-play title, it was an uncommon practice in the West, even though it was a common thing in the East. Even so, their main way of monetizing their game was to sell in-game items like skins, chests, etc. This strategy worked perfectly, as many players tried these games and stuck around, while some others proceeded to buy cosmetics in those games.
The pricing however is very controversial depending on the people and region. But according to most people, the prices are most of the time very expensive for what they are offering. Even after that, people still purchase these skins without a second thought.
One thing about the pricing was that they are overall consistent. They barely changed since their inception and whenever it changed, it was very minute. However, because of the changing world economy, Riot has announced that they are changing the regional pricing across all of their games. Most of the price changes are increases. Here is the list of all of the changes.
Read more: League of Legends Patch 14.18 Notes.
All of the Price Changes
So why is Riot changing the prices now? The short answer is market manipulation by third-party sites or stores. Because of the circumstances in some countries, there is regional pricing in most online games and stores. Usually, some games, items, and micro-transactions are cheaper in some countries, rather than others. This is a good thing as most players around the world can enjoy the content without much hassle, it does make way for malicious actors to make a profit.
What they would do is buy their desired items using VPN or other means, then sell them at higher prices in other countries. These kinds of behaviors are against Riot Games’ terms of service, even so, it still doesn’t stop those people from selling those currencies or even accounts. Therefore, Riot Games is changing the prices across their game to combat this problem.
Each of their game has its own set of regional price changes. So I will showcase all of them.
League of Legends (PC) & Teamfight Tactics Price Changes
- Americas
- Brazil: +20%
- Canada: No change
- Chile: -6%
- LATAM regions with prices in USD: -11%
- Mexico: -9%
- Peru: -12%
- USA: No change
- Unlisted regions: No change
- Asia-Pacific & OCE
- Australia: +5%
- Hong Kong: +13%
- India: -4%
- Japan: +7%
- Korea: +14%
- Malaysia: +23%
- New Zealand: +7%
- Philippines: +40%
- Taiwan: +33%
- Thailand: +7%
- Vietnam: +41%
- Unlisted regions: No change
- Europe & MENA
- CIS regions with prices in EUR: +13%
- Czech Republic: -9%
- Hungary: +7%
- Poland: -4%
- Romania: +8%
- Turkey: +24%
- Ukraine: +73%
- Unlisted regions: No change
Valorant Price Changes
- Americas
- Brazil: +14%
- Canada: No change
- Chile: +22%
- Colombia: +6%
- LATAM regions with prices in USD: Some regions will see a decrease of -15% while others an increase of 12% to standardize prices across LATAM.
- USA: No change
- Unlisted regions: No change
- Asia-Pacific & OCE
- India: -6%
- Japan: +20%
- Korea: +14%
- Malaysia: +16%
- Philippines: +7%
- Unlisted regions: No change
- Europe & MENA
- Czech Republic: -9%
- Hungary: +11%
- Norway: +12%
- Poland: -6%
- Romania: +5%
- Turkey: +15%
- Ukraine: +66%
- Unlisted regions: No change
Legends of Runeterra Price Changes
- Americas
- Brazil: +14%
- Canada: No change
- Chile: +7%
- Colombia: -16%
- Mexico: -8%
- LATAM regions with prices in USD: +12%
- USA: No change
- Unlisted regions: No change
- Asia-Pacific & OCE
- India: +4%
- Japan: +20%
- Korea: +19%
- Malaysia: +16%
- Philippines: +7%
- Vietnam: -4%
- Unlisted regions: No change
- Europe & MENA
- Czech Republic: -9%
- Norway (PC prices): +12%
- Poland (PC prices): -6%
- Romania (PC prices): +5%
- Saudi Arabia: -5%
- Turkey: +63%
- Ukraine: +64%
- United Kingdom: -9%
- Unlisted regions: No change
League of Legends: Wild Rift Price Changes
- Americas
- Brazil: +16%
- Canada: No change
- Colombia: -12%
- Mexico: -8%
- USA: No change
- Unlisted regions: No change
- Asia-Pacific & OCE
- Australia: -6%
- Indonesia: -6%
- Japan: +12%
- Korea: +6%
- Malaysia: +5%
- New Zealand: -6%
- Vietnam: -8%
- Unlisted regions: No change
- Europe & MENA
- Czech Republic: -7%
- Hungary: +8%
- Turkey: +24%
- Ukraine: +76%
- Unlisted regions: No change
When Are These Price Changes Taking Place?
These price changes will take place after September 18, 2024. However, this date of the price change is different for Taiwan, Korea, and Japan.
For Taiwan servers, this price change will take place on October 3, 2024. And for Korean servers, the prices will change on September 22, 2024. Finally, for Japan, the dates are still undecided, and it will be announced in the in-game client.
Before, their price change date, you can purchase the currencies in the client for the double bonus promotion.
Double Bonus Promotion
Before the aforementioned date, players can purchase the in-game currencies of their favorite games and they will get double the bonus currencies. For example, in Valorant, in the 2050VP bundle, you get 1900VP and 150VP as a bonus. Now for a limited time, the VP bonus will be doubled. So in the same bundle, you will get 300VP as a bonus, in total, you would receive 2200VP now.
This promotion will start on September 4, at 9:00 AM PST, across most regions. For Taiwan, it will start on September 19, at 9:00 AM PST, and for Korea, on September 5, at 1:00 AM KST. For Japan, the dates for the price changes across all Riot Games IP are still undecided.
