Brexit prompts League of Legends price hike
Riot Games increasing the cost of virtual currency by 20% from July 25th
The devaluing of the British pound has compelled Riot Games to charge more for the in-game currency that funds League of Legends.
Esports News UK reports the developer has been monitoring pricing and the strength of the pound every since the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union last year. Allowing a year for the currency to recover, Riot has decided it has no choice by to raise the cost of Riot Points (also known as RP).
As of 11.59pm on July 25th, the cost for RP bundles will be raised by 20%. At the low end of the scale, this means £5 only nets users 790RP compared to 975RP previously. At the higher end, £50 is now worth 8,600RP rather than 10,700RP.
Riot Games has also altered its pricing structure slightly, dropping the £2.50 bundle and adding a new £15 one, which enables players to buy legendary skins without having to fork out £20 to gain enough RP.
However, the developer has stressed that the number of RP required for champions, skins, wards and so on will not change after the price hike. Also, any RP purchased before July 25th will be unaffected by the alteration.
Publishing exec Riot Benshirro offered the following explanation via a forum post: "Last June, the UK voted to leave the European Union, triggering a drop in the value of the pound relative to other global currencies, particularly the US dollar. This change meant that while UK players were spending the same number of pounds on RP as before, players elsewhere in the world were paying a lot more in comparison.
"Like a lot of companies who sell digital content, we monitored the situation closely over several months to see whether the pound would recover, but it's been over a year now and we feel we've reached the point where a price change is necessary to restore parity."
Benshirro added that after July 25th, UK players who purchase RP will receive "roughly the same amount" they would get if they exchanged their pounds into US dollars.
The economical turbulence caused by Brexit has affected a number of games and tech firms, with even Apple raising app prices earlier this year.
More recently, Paradox Interactive increased the price of several games in numerous territories around the world to achieve parity. However, it later reverse these changes after a consumer backlash.