Those choosing to boycott the new League of Legends Hall of Fame skins are fighting a losing battle as the game’s “whales” proved just how much demand there really is for Faker’s expensive Ahri skin, with over $600,000 USD worth of the bundles sold in an hour.
Faker, alongside Bin and Elk, made an appearance on a Douyin stream on June 23 to promote a variety of physical and in-game League products. According to a report by Sohu (which Dot Esports has translated from Mandarian), over 100,000 concurrent League viewers tuned in to watch and attempt to get their hands on the glamour items—some of which were sold at a discount but in a limited quantity.
Faker ultimately arrived and spent time showing off the Hall of Fame Ahri skin and its custom effects. The report states he was considering using it, but so far we haven’t seen the Korean superstar use his Ahri skin in an official match, as per his stance on skins. He signed off after an hour of questions and promotions, by which time every copy of every version of the bundle available on the Douyin stream had sold.
In total, including both the base and signature versions of the bundle up for grabs, Sobu reported sales figures as high as 4.81 million yuan—approximately $660,000 USD. Given the sale of the products only began an hour prior as part of the stream, it’s an impressive number and shows that, despite the huge online backlash the bundle has received, Faker and the Ahri Hall of Fame bundle remain hugely popular, especially among Chinese fans.
Many players have publicly committed to boycotting the purchase of the bundle, calling its high price tag an “insult” to the League community and its esports fanbase. However, should the figures from the Douyin stream be correct, it is clear there remains a massive market for even the most expensive versions.
This doesn’t bode well for those hoping the backlash would be enough to force Riot into dropping the price of future Hall of Fame bundles. In the meantime, we’ll be keeping an eye out to see if Faker sticks by his word and gives his Ahri skin a try.
