League of Legends price hike blamed on Brexit

League of Legends players in the UK are facing a dramatic rise in the price of in-game currency, and Brexit is to blame. The change, which comes into effect on 25 July, will mean a 20% price hike on Riot Points (RP) used to purchase new characters, skins and boosts.

Developer Riot Games revealed in a post on the game's forums that the decision was reached after the team carefully monitored the value of the pound following last summer's EU referendum vote.

"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," wrote Riot publishing executive 'Benshirro'.

"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."

A tweaked pricing structure for RP removes a £2.50 tier and introduces a £15 one, making it easier for players to purchase legendary skins without having to jump to the £20 bracket. Here's how it will work from 25 July.

"The result of the change will be that whenever a player in the UK buys RP from 25 July onwards, they will receive roughly the same amount that they would get if they exchanged their money into dollars and bought RP in North America."

Fielding questions from players on the forum, Riot's UK head of publishing Mark Cox said: "This is not about greed it's about player parity. We want players globally to receive the same amount of RP for their chosen currency.

"Brexit has hit the pound and this has unbalanced us versus North America, so we feel it's only fair to bring this into balance for all players. I hope you can understand, and I do appreciate your comments."

With the changes are not taking effect until the end of the month, players of the hit multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game are sure to be stocking up on RP while it's still relatively cheap.