how do riot go about skins
How does riot go about picking who will get new skins theres some champs that have 5-7+ skins wile others have 2? Will champs like kindred that only have 2 skins ever get more skins?
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So it varies. I've been off League of Legends for a few years now so my info might be slightly outdated, but it's usually a balance of the following factors.
- Overall Audience Demand - This usually overlaps with Popularity but not always - this is partly why some champions have historically gotten a lot of skins even though their popularity isn't super high
- Thematic Fit - What champions work best / naturally in a given thematic / set
- Roster Balance - _This is a combination of covering roles / lanes for a given theme, ie we don't want 5 Marksmen in the same skin line _
- Roster Coverage -_ This is basically trying to get coverage on champions who just haven't gotten content in a while_
- Champion Balance - We don't want champions to have the same style of skins all the time, but we also want champion skins to appeal to the players who play them.
- Calendar Planning - This is long term (multi month / year) planning. Often a champion that may sense in a given theme has a different skin planned a few months later and so may be passed over
There may be some additional factors now, but those were the factors we looked at when I was on the team.
As much as people like to speculate that we tie game balance to skin releases, we do not. I get it, it's an easy claim to make since companies want to make money, but from firsthand experience I've been a lead on the balance team in the past and the personalization team which includes skins (they have a new name though now that I can't recall) and specifically set up structures to avoid this conflict of interest.
We release a lot of skins and we do a lot of balance changes, so there will be some natural overlap but it's not planned, which is why you see a number of champs with skins that get buffed and others nerfed, with the vast majority not overlapping. It's just how distributions work.
You can also see all the work they've done recently on the balance team to highlight when and how they make balance decisions - skin releases are not, and will not be part of that process.
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if its popular (e.g. Ezreal and Lux) GIVE EM SKINS
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We overbuffed it and now everyone is playing it so we are giving them a skin
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The community was asking for a skin for years
Decide whether or not it'll fit Luz Ezreal Yasuo or KaiSa and if not they throw a dart at the board to see who'll get it
2 ways! 1. They Buff said champ to extreme lvls then boom new skin because everyone is playing that champ, so they buy the new skin patch or so later they nerf said champ. 2. If it is a attractive champion that a majority of players play on. That is how skins are picked.
its hilarious how out of touch the comments are with the rioter response. not to bag on these guys either--it's understandably difficult to step past conspiracy bias
Riot already said they have nothing planned for Kindred this year so might want to give up there. But Riot picks skins based on how much they're played, and the meta. That's what they say but we all know the truth.
Hows that for audience demand? Fill em up! [slayer-pantheon-thumbs]
They make skins to make money. They make them for the popular champs. Thats why the same champs and op champs get skins over and over. They are the ones people spam. Its all about demand
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
What champion's most likely to get skin sales and what they have the best ideas for, I assume.
This is why the "theme" matters, but doesn't actually matter. Champions that fit a theme in whatever designer's mind are more likely to get a skin than one that doesn't match. It's more just another way to put "inspiration". Pool Party Caitlyn is an easier thematic to think up than Pool Party Azir, for example. But if some Rioter suddenly gets that burst of inspiration for how to make Pool Party Azir work, they might just go with it...If it's going to be cost-effective.
That's the other big thing with skins - It has to sell enough to offset design costs. They don't always go for the most profitable skins, but they need to make a profit off of it because skins are easily going to be 90% or more of League's income, so even if a Rioter has a really cool idea for a skin, it's not going to be prioritized over something that's actually going to keep the lights on.
So, play more unpopular champions and Riot will have more ability to make skins for them. Play more Ahri and there's going to be more Ahri skins, because Riot needs to keep the lights on more than they need to make skins that are going to sell for $500 total.
######Disclaimer: Not a Rioter - This is just my assumptions of their processes based upon what I've heard and logical conclusions. My word is not fact or law, and can very well be wrong here. But it's what I've found makes the most sense.
ty for the info on this every one.
what sells gets more skins