League will use crowdfunding to increase international prize pools

In-game transactions are what fund League of Legends, and now they’ll start (partially) funding the competitive scene.

Riot made a big announcement about changes in how League esports is going to work financially, including having skins contribute to the prize pool.

Starting this year, 25 percent of the revenue raised from Championship skins and ward skins will be added to the Worlds prize pool. Likewise, 25 percent of the revenue raised from the yearly Challenger skins will be going to the Mid-Season Invitational prize pool.

Additionally, 25 percent of the money earned from selling team-based skins, like the SKT T1 or Fnatic set, will go to the players the skins are based around, as well as their teams.

This is huge, considering how much money Riot makes off of skins alone. Reddit user Waltorzz calculated it. Since Riot said that the prize pool would have doubled last year from the added sales of the Championship skin and only 25 percent of the sales would go to the pool, this means that Championship Kalista brought in about $8.52 million total. This is taking into account that each 975 RP skin costs about $7.50.