Over the last month, there’s been plenty of controversy surrounding Riot Games’ decision to make an overpriced League of Legends skin to celebrate the career of esports legend Faker—but not even the 28-year-old superstar is using the skin on stage.
In T1’s fourth series of the 2024 LCK Summer Split, Faker locked in Ahri as his champion of choice against Kwangdong Freecs, much to the surprise of the viewers and broadcast team. Hilariously enough, however, Faker and the rest of T1 loaded into the second game of the day, only to be seen using the base Ahri skin instead of his commemorative cosmetic.
This decision was completely on-brand for the superstar mid laner, who has notoriously rarely ever used skins for any champions throughout his career. He has only used skins on stage by mistake or due to client-sided bugs, which was one of the reasons why so many people thought his overpriced Ahri skin was so ironic for a player that doesn’t use skins in the first place.
Faker’s new Ahri skin bundle set the League community ablaze when its price was revealed to be a whopping $450 USD for the highest tier bundle, causing fans to immediately raise their pitchforks and accuse Riot of taking advantage of their fandom for the popular pro.
In protest, many players refused to buy the skin, and have even resorted to instantly banning Ahri in every game they play, leading to a sudden rise in the champion’s ban rate over the last patch. In Brazil, some players are even claiming Riot is breaking the law, with Article 39 of the Brazilian Consumer Defense Code stating companies cannot sell exclusive products that can only be found in bundles.
Riot has, however, doubled down on the price tag of the new bundle, saying it was “a good opportunity to both celebrate iconic pro players and help cover the costs of esports.” Clearly, the developers and company will not be backing down or changing anything with the bundle, so there’s only one way the fans can make sure their voices heard: by not opening their wallets.
