Riot is letting players keep League of Legends skin capsules that were mistakenly given out for free

An error on the League of Legends store allowed players to get skins effectively for free, and while Riot has now fixed the mistake, it’s letting people who used the exploit keep their purchases. While that’s good news for everyone who took advantage of the fleeting bargain, some players who had to shell out real cash for their skins aren’t pleased. 

Yesterday, some players noticed that prestige points and blood moon capsules had gone down in price. By quite a bit. The skin capsules, which dole out gems and skin shards and normally cost 750 Riot points, could be snatched up for a single blue essence. Prestige points, used to create exclusive prestige skins, and the Blood Moon Aatrox skin were also available for blue essence.  

Blue essence is a free currency mostly used to unlock champions, while Riot points cost real money. A skin capsule that would normally cost just over $5 could be picked up for free. The cheapest champion costs over 200 BE, so even in the context of the free currency, one blue essence is a drop in the ocean.  

You can see the scale of one player’s acquisitions on Twitter. 

Riot will revert all prestige points that were purchased for blue essence, as well as the Blood Moon Aatrox skin, but League of Legends product manager Adriaan Noordzij said Riot had no plans to revert the capsule purchases. If you want to buy the Aatrox skin now, you’ll need to have 1350 RP, costing you $10. 

Some players who have invested money into the game feel cheated by the decision. One player, who claims they’ve spent $7,000 on the game, said that it felt like they were being punished for not abusing a bug. Other say that they’ll be more hesitant about buying Riot points in the future. 

I’ve reached out to Riot to clarify the decision.