I have very strong feelings about third-party skins in videogames. Warzone. Overwatch. Fortnite. Some of the biggest multiplayer titles have leaned heavily into third-party promotion; it feels like we can’t go a single week without some new Overwatch X [insert pop culture thing here] collab. As someone who believes that these cosmetics cheapen games, I was a tad concerned when I saw Riot’s recent Porsche X Wild Rift crossover – I won’t lie, the skins were great, but I was a little worried that it’d open the floodgates to a slew of branded crossovers in League of Legends. According to Lead Game Designer August ‘August’ Browning, however, that’s not something I need to worry about.
When asked whether the developer is interested in third-party collabs for League of Legends (and presumably its other titles, too), August politely replies that Riot “is pretty not open to that.”
Chatting on stream (note that there’s no vod of said stream, so the video has been cut and uploaded as a YouTube short by HeWhoQuacksss), he notes that “the second you do third-party skins, the tone of your game completely changes. That doesn’t mean it’s bad – it’s really cool to play Overwatch and play all of these anime characters and K-pop idols; it’s cool to go into Fortnite and have Goku and Jinx fighting Ariana Grande and Peter Griffin. But, tonally speaking, it is also very different from the tone of all the different characters [in League of Legends], even if they’re skinned up or in-world [High Noon, Star Guardian, for example] to some degree.”
“Historically, Riot has been hesitant to do skins from other IPs,” he continues. “Now that said, we have done skins from franchises; we’ve got the Swain skin that looks very similar to certain chicken establishments, we’ve got Louis Vuitton on Senna. So collabs are something we’ve done before. Going so far as putting another character from another game in [League of Legends] is a big step.”
I chased Prestige True Damage Senna for years, having missed out on it during its initial run. It’s easily one of my favorite skins in the game; it oozes high fashion, but doesn’t smack you over the head with the branding. The iconic Louis Vuitton logo is cleverly integrated into her animations (that W is gorgeous) and splash art; it never feels too much.
While the Wild Rift collab made me a little nervous, I do think the skins were tastefully done; that Kai’Sa one is to die for, and the homeguard animation is genuinely iconic. If the devs can fit collabs into the existing universe without them becoming obnoxious, then I’m all for it.
That’s where the likes of Warzone – and Call of Duty as a whole – have fallen down. The franchise has forfeited its gritty war game heritage and become, to me, a somewhat edgier Fortnite. While I love Overwatch, the level of commercialism makes me sad; it doesn’t really feel like Overwatch versus Talon when Juno’s decked out as Chun Li and Doomfist is One Punch Man (although I do appreciate the pun on that latter one).
Keeping League ‘pure’ is a good thing, and I’m glad that Riot’s standing strong here. Sure, those sponsorship deals look sweet on paper, but it’s better for the game, better for the players, and better for the ecosystem. Casual Riot W; we love to see them.
