League of Legends developer Riot Games expects to lose money over its decision to crack down on one of the game's most enduring community issues.
Earlier this week, Riot announced plans to tackle 'smurfing' - a practice in which experienced players create new accounts with the specific goal of curbstomping less skilled players. It's been an issue for as long as I've been playing LoL - around 15 years - and it's so ingrained in the ecosystem that many players thought Riot would never truly combat it.
That changed this week, when Riot confirmed it would be taking action against players it described as 'boosters' and 'hitchhikers'. The former are players who play on someone else's account to get it to a higher rank, and the latter are those who play alongside a player of a vastly different skill for the same aim.
It's an action that's long overdue, but also proving a little unpopular with those sections of the community that haven't always been playing fair. That's brought Riot's director of product management, Drew Levin, out swinging on Twitter. When asked by one account booster what he should do for money after the changes took effect, Levin simply replied with the McDonalds career page.
He's also, however, been very open about what this decision means for Riot's bottom line. Responding to the suggestion that alt accounts are a major part of the game's economy, he said that "we will for sure lose money and monthly actives from the choice to crack down on smurfing."
Without getting into details: we will for sure lose money and monthly actives from the choice to crack down on smurfing. For years, players said we would never do this because we’re too afraid to do the right thing for the game if it loses money. We believe in the game’s future. https://t.co/AbmsS0bze9August 13, 2025
"For years, players said we would never do this because we’re too afraid to do the right thing for the game if it loses money. We believe in the game's future."
For years, those players have been proved right - League of Legends is on the approach towards its 20th anniversary, and it's wild that Riot has only just taken action over one of the game's biggest, most persistent issues. But at a time in any game's lifespan where revenue is no longer the guarantee that it was at its heyday, it's almost refreshing to see a senior development admitting that a change is being made for the game's health, rather than the health of its bottom line.
That said, Riot did recently sign a big sports gambling deal - that cash has to come from somewhere, I guess.
