Riot Games recently announced a special collection of Ahri skins as part of their Hall of Legends 2024 event. These skins are meant to honor League of Legends esports icon Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok. However, the high prices have angered players. Here’s everything you need to know about the controversy.
The Hall of Legends
Starting in 2024, League of Legends Esports (LoL Esports) will induct a pro player into the Hall of Legends each year to honor their contributions to the game and the sport. Faker is the first LoL player to be inducted for “his mastery of League of Legends gameplay, numerous contributions to the sport, and for inspiring millions of fans across the globe.”
The Hall of Legends 2024 is an in-game event that begins on June 12 and will run until July 8, 2024. It will feature 100 levels of content based on Faker’s career achievements, as well as commemorative icons and skins for Ahri, one of Faker’s best-known champions. Thirty percent of the gross revenue from the sales will go to Faker and his LoL Esports team, T1.
Controversial Pricing
The Faker Ahri skins aren’t sold individually and are only available in collections tied to the Hall of Legends event. These collections come in three price tiers:
- The Risen Legend Collection: Priced at 5430 Riot Points (RP) ($45.98 USD). It includes the Risen Ahri skin, the Hall of Legends event pass, a unique Faker takedown taunt, and exclusive icons, borders, and emotes.
- The Immortalized Legend Collection: Priced at 32430 RP ($299.97 USD). It includes the Immortalized Legend skin, the Risen Legend Collection, a custom announcer voice, various special effects, and unique transformations.
- The Signature Immortalized Legend Collection: Priced at 59260 RP ($434.95 USD), it’s the most expensive bundle. It includes the Immortalized Legend skin, all 100 event pass levels unlocked, new Chromas for LeBlanc, SKT T1 Zed, Syndra, and Ryze, Faker’s Signature Move, and Structure Finisher.
A Ploy to Lure Superfans?
The high prices suggest that Riot is trying to attract the superfans in the LoL community. Superfans, also called “whales,” are a small yet dedicated minority within a fandom who spend the most money.
In recent years, various industries and brands have focused on targeting these superfans by creating more expensive content and services. Riot’s approach with these bundles appears to be a similar strategy.
Backlash & Threats to Permaban Ahri
Many LoL players have expressed their anger over the exorbitant price of the Signature Immortalized Legend Collection. They think it’s ridiculous for a skin to cost nearly $500, especially since skins in LoL are already expensive — with Ultimate skins costing 3250 RP (nearly $40 USD). What makes it worse is that Faker himself doesn’t use skins and even waited until his SKT T1 Ryze Skin went on sale.
Riot Games hasn’t addressed the criticism directly, but in their FAQ, they justified the high prices by stating the skins are “meant to be highly commemorative, with never-before-implemented features that we can’t wait to see hit the Rift.” To add insult to injury, the FAQ makes it clear that these skins will be unavailable for purchase after July 8, 2024. Players feel Riot is exploiting their love for Faker to make money.
Some players on the r/AhriMains subreddit have vowed to permaban the champion as a form of boycott. Their goal is to pressure Riot Games into lowering the price of the bundles by preventing superfans who bought the skins from being able to play Ahri.
Whether this boycott will work in the long term remains to be seen. In a YouTube video by SkinSpotlights showcasing the Immortalized Legend skin, Ahri actually says, “Wait ’til the Demon King hears about these prices” after you open the in-game shop. This indicates that Riot was aware the collections would be controversial but proceeded anyway. Only time will tell if appealing to superfans was worth alienating most of LoL’s player base.
