Riot Games Wants Your Money (And They Can Have It)
Riot Games is the publisher of League of Legends and they will eventually be rulers of us all. For those of you who don’t play League of Legends, the game consists of playable characters called Champions which can be purchased two different ways: using Influence Points – points earned from playing a match, or Riot Points – points bought using actual currency. Obviously there are drawbacks and benefits to both, but I’m not here to talk about the merits of Riot’s business plan. I’m here to talk about how they sell those points. They sell Riot Points by selling the champions to us, the players.
It’s not just as simple as “look at this Champion. Look at what this Champion can do.” Don’t get me wrong; they do that. They do it in fucking spades. They show you as much information on the Champion as possible in order to base a logical decision on whether or not this is the guy for you. The problem is that all that information has to generally be sought out. It’s not hard to find but it is easy to be glanced over. If you want to get the attention of as much of your target audience as possible, you have to shake everything you got in front of their faces. Some genius at Riot figured out that there was one place where they have a captive audience; where 100% of their target will see what they want to see. The login screen.
Riot’s latest attempt to vacuum money out of my wallet (with much success, I might add) is what sparked this little article. The first time Riot sold me on a Champion featured at login, all they had to do was chant his name over and over. Then, they decided a somber song about revenge and regret, backed by an equally melancholic orchestra, would do the trick. It turns out that a woman hauntingly regaling her own sadistic tale of death is also enough for me to part ways with my wallet. I honestly believe, however, that their latest login screen really sets the bar.
This is a fantastic login, but not solely because of what it is. I mean, the tune is insanely catchy, the graphics are amazing, and it fits perfectly into what you’d expect for Vi, the Champion this features. This is fantastic for what this login and all the others represent. Riot has repeatedly gone out of their way to create music and nice visuals for us as a sort of investment to get money on their product. That’s what any advertisement is meant to do. These login screens, however, don’t try to talk down to us or try to explain to us why these Champions are cool and interesting. Riot just shows us. They just show us these login screens without a word more and let us come to our own conclusion. “This looks pretty cool.” More often than not, that conclusion ends with us spending boat loads of money.
Well played Riot. GG.
About the Author
Greg Giannetti A king among men, this miraculous example of perfection graces us with his presence on the internets where he can write about his opinions on things that totally matter. Greg also knows the true secret to life - lots of naps.
Related Posts
Video: Infinite Scuba →
Get ready to make soup with PixelJunk Inc. →
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number Announced →
Well done, Greg!
Well done, Greg!
Well done, Greg!