League of Legends microtransactions have set a new record, a report into last year’s spending has shown.
This isn’t too much of a surprise considering League of Legends is the most played online game in the World. Despite being free-to-play, the MOBA is breaking all sorts of records when it comes to player spending thanks to its ever-updating and huge selection of microtransactions.
Riot Games made approximately $1.62 billion in 2015 (according to 640toronto), with the majority of this revenue coming through microtransactions.
It’s an incredible model that the developers have created, especially considering that most of these purchases come from skins for each champion. Normally you would expect players to look for advantage in-game with certain boosts or upgrades for their characters, but in League of Legends (and other games of a similar ilk) the necessity to look unique and fresh up-to-date is at the top of players’ lists.
The average player spends around $24 a year on League of Legends, which is around the cost of a AAA season pass or a top-end indie game, so with more active players than any other game on the planet it’s not a surprise that Riot Games are making so much money.
There are of course players that spend nothing at all on the game, where others may spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars making sure their champion is looking fly.
This is an idea that other developers have and will take into account in the future. Players are willing to spend more money on rare cosmetics as opposed to in-game upgrades. The online scene is very competitive and proving that you are the best using just your natural talent is incredibly important to gamers.
Yesterday saw the latest update released for League of Legends, and a few days ago saw the leak of the new client while in alpha, along with a video.
League of Legends continues to grow in popularity both socially and professionally, so considering it’s completely free then why not give it a go if you haven’t already? Just be careful not to spend too much on skins!
