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

League of Legends: Developer CD Projekt Red dropped a little gift in the shape of a tabletop RPG with a surprise Cyberpunk 2077 update just before the holidays. Polygon reached out to Cyberpunk publisher R. Talsorian Games for a quick comment, and they added this: “Anyone who owns Cyberpunk 2077 who has access to their Bonus Content folder in the game can find Cyberpunk RED: Easy Mode available in there, of course for free.”

And finally, Cyberpunk 2077 quietly delivered the quick start guide to the tabletop role-playing game with its update 2.2, without mention. Easy Mode introduces the use of dice pools, rather than controllers and keyboards. It will feature streamlined rules and a tutorial mission to help get players up and running quickly! In the quickstart,

players can take on the role of one of five pre-gens: the flamboyant Rockerboy, the deadly Solo, the experimental Tech, the life-saving Medtech, and the impactful Media. While a short history and breakdown of Night city are covered in the guide, the worlds of Cyberpunk RED should feel very familiar to fans of the video game.

League of Legends has changed a lot since the plucky indie game with a handful of staff running the show, but one of those things that has always remained the same over the last 10+ years is that League is a free-to-play game. Allows me to be able to get onto mobile or PC and grind as many games as my heart desires without any sort of paywall or ads or any other sort of barrier. However, the game has become more expensive and annoying to deal with regarding everything outside of the game itself, particularly the champion cosmetics.

For me, however, given that I sunk thousands of hours in on PC but prefer playing League of Legends on mobile these days due to the short games and comfy controls, I think I still prefer the way Riot does its games. On the games themselves, the basic system is easy: You purchase champions with IP (in-game currency) or RP (paid currency) and

every week there is a rotating “free” roster, giving players a taste of the massive buffet of champions available for purchase. New characters are generally free, something Riot has no competitive advantage in selling — comparatively, skins are where the real money is. Characters get new models and splash art, and even, in a few cases, voice lines and animations.

League of Legends

Back in the early days of League, skins could be as simple as a palette swap, or the same champion in a different shirt that had a slight sheen on it. Riot released DJ Sona in 2015, an Ultimate skin with three different models, each with their own custom soundtrack, for approximately $25. That, at the time, was really an eyebrow-raising price for a car, given Legendaries — the tier before Ultimate — were going for approx $14. They have ben altered and regionalised but the price of Legendaries and Ultimates hasn’t changed much over time.

Fast forward to 2024, and it’s gacha and FOMO unlocks for $200 a pop that have players seething. For example two new Exalted skins — which is on par with some Ultimate skins in term of features — can be up to $250.