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PSA (did the math) The USD value per Chroma skin

Kingsgrave··2 votes·1,485 views

TLDR: Chromas are actually a really good deal money wise and I really doubt Riot can make much profit off of it unless a huge amount of them are bought, and if you want simple skins these are a far better investment than anything else

73160 RP to buy 1 590 RP Chroma per Champion (124 Current Champs as of 4/10/15) 120900 RP to buy 1 975 RP Skin per Champion (124 Current Champs as of 4/10/15)

5 USD of RP at a time: ($1 = 130 RP) 563 USD to buy 1 Chroma Pack per Champion 1.52 USD per 590 RP Chroma Skin 930 USD to buy 1 Skin per Champion 7.5 USD per 975 RP Skin

10 USD of RP at a time: ($1 = 138 RP) 531 USD to buy 1 Chroma Pack per Champion 1.43 USD per 590 RP Chroma Skin 877 USD to buy 1 Skin per Champion 7.07 USD per 975 RP Skin

20 USD of RP at a time: ($1 = 140 RP) 523 USD to buy 1 Chroma Pack per Champion 1.41 USD per 590 RP Chroma Skin 864 USD to buy 1 Skin per Champion 6.97 USD per 975 RP Skin

35 USD of RP at a time: ($1 = 143 RP) 512 USD to buy 1 Chroma Pack per Champion 1.38 USD per 590 RP Chroma Skin 846 USD to buy 1 Skin per Champion 6.82 USD per 975 RP Skin

50 USD of RP at a time: ($1 = 144 RP) 509 USD to buy 1 Chroma Pack per Champion 1.37 USD per 590 RP Chroma Skin 840 USD to buy 1 Skin per Champion 6.78 USD per 975 RP Skin

100 USD of RP at a time: ($1 = 150 RP) 488 USD to buy 1 Chroma Pack per Champion 1.31 USD per 590 RP Chroma Skin 806 USD to buy 1 Skin per Champion 6.5 USD per 975 RP Skin

31 Comments

Deep Terror Nami7 votes

You heard him, folks;

#BUY RP 1000$ AT A TIME

Kingsgrave2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Valkyrie Witch,realm=NA,application-id=cIfEodbz,discussion-id=zlMuThi5,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2015-04-11T05:40:21.405+0000)

You heard him, folks;

#BUY RP 1000$ AT A TIME

https://media3.giphy.com/media/1jQhFdU2XHYD6/200_s.gif

BRBGTGBOWFLEX5 votes

.... Well, the issue is that they are recolors that do not really take any work and I do not agree with Riot on their value.

These are IP items. These shouldn't be RP only. It's just not in the interest of basic fairness. We bought the intellectual property already. At least give us a value earned option for a different color of what we paid for (and I very much doubt these took a whole lot of work, since they seem to cover quite a lot).

Kingsgrave2 votes

{quoted}

.... Well, the issue is that they are recolors that do not really take any work and I do not agree with Riot on their value.

These are IP items. These shouldn't be RP only. It's just not in the interest of basic fairness. We bought the intellectual property already. At least give us a value earned option for a different color of what we paid for (and I very much doubt these took a whole lot of work, since they seem to cover quite a lot).

Dude, its still only like 1.5 dollars per skin. Its a pretty good deal. If you don't want to buy them, don't buy them.

Also honestly, I've seen the chromas on reddit and other sites. None of them are even close to the quality of Riot's chromas and you also have to deal with buggy custom skins that don't work half the time and only last like 2 weeks tops until you have to either reinstall or completely back up your folders and start again.

They probably take like 1-2 hours because of Riot's extensive Quality Assurance processes and that is added to the time they probably spent trying to figure out which colors are best to offer and fit the best in their game. So its probably around 4-8 hours realistically per Chroma Pack. Thats about 60-120 dollars of paid time if you assume 15 dollars an hour because I really doubt they are having an intern do it. So they would need to sell a lot of these to make any amount of return, which makes me skeptical they would ever release them for IP.

People have stigma now, but honestly the majority of people will probably love them and buy them like crazy. With how cheap they are itll be like McDonalds vs Actual Burger Places. Sure the Burger Places are better but McDs is super cheap and super fast and not completely awful. You also tend to get more food for less, even if the food isn't nearly as good.

BRBGTGBOWFLEX1 votes

I think you present a good argument, but I just don't think their level of work reflects $5 per recolor. They are at half the price of a skin when a fourth sounds much more reasonable. Keep in mind, you do have to buy the skin first so there is already a built-in cost component.

Kingsgrave1 votes

{quoted}

I think you present a good argument, but I just don't think their level of work reflects $5 per recolor. They are at half the price of a skin when a fourth sounds much more reasonable. Keep in mind, you do have to buy the skin first so there is already a built-in cost component.

Well, I dont agree at all with the Skin Chromas. The default Chromas are a really really good deal.

Deep Terror Nami1 votes

Alternative ways to get Chromas is not off the table yet. Just because the launch packs will be a 3-set for 590 RP doesn't mean it is the only option they are considering. You can check out the Red posts about them on Surrenderat20.

You might very well see some or all Chromas be offered for IP in the future.

EL HAMSTERO1 votes

their value is whatever they can get people to pay for them. that's economics 101

BRBGTGBOWFLEX1 votes

No, actually. By that logic, any price that anyone would ever pay is value.

A bottle of water is worth about a dollar. A man dying of thirst will pay a lot more than a dollar for water. That does not mean the value is what that person will pay.

Similarly, a group of consumers would buy the recolors or a specific recolor at upwards of 3000RP. That indicates what a small segment will pay and does not mean that is its worth in the general market. There are also alternative methods of valuation, usually comparables or "comps" are used to appraise the value of a given item (i.e. how other similar things are priced). In this case, the comps are priced much lower when offered by other content providers.

I could go on to discuss more advanced topics in pricing/value/markets. Or I could just say, that after Economics 101, there is an Economics 102, 110, 190Q, etc. And pricing/value determination is an area of intense study.

Regardless, the point with my post is to explain that I do not think their current pricing reflects market. That it is harmful to consumers and that many of us perceive it as predatory pricing. Priced differently, I would only see high value add to these.

Plus, I also think that Riot should be focused more on the revenue they will generate when people purchase a skin just so they can get the recolor. It is two sales and the bigger slice of revenue is on the actual skin, so pricing these reasonably is likely to lead to more revenue from skin purchases with the intent to recolor.

The Blue Rooster3 votes

This basic arithmetic would matter if you could buy them individually, but you can't. These Chromas are 4.25 per skin because that is the minimum purchasable sum.

You cannot acquire any Chroma for less than that sum.

Kingsgrave1 votes

[{quoted}](name=The Blue Rooster,realm=NA,application-id=cIfEodbz,discussion-id=zlMuThi5,comment-id=0002,timestamp=2015-04-11T07:08:59.866+0000)

This basic arithmetic would matter if you could buy them individually, but you can't. These Chromas are 4.25 per skin because that is the minimum purchasable sum.

You cannot acquire any Chroma for less than that sum.

When you buy a gallon of tea you compare two or more together by price per ounce. You arent getting each individual ounce individually but you are paying for the pack of ounces. Same general idea here.

The Blue Rooster3 votes

{quoted}

When you buy a gallon of tea you compare two or more together by price per ounce. You arent getting each individual ounce individually but you are paying for the pack of ounces. Same general idea here.

No it's not the same idea, if you're only going to drink 32 ounces of tea, but the only possible method available to buy that tea is by buying a gallon for 2.99, then it doesn't matter how much it costs "per ounce" you were forced to pay 2.99 for 32 ounces of tea. Sure you got more, but you didn't want more, you were forced to buy more, and you're not going to use more of that grade A non-transferrable tea.

Jubbinaut2 votes

It's comparison shopping. Examining the per-unit price tells you what the best value is. There's additional factors to consider - among them the amount you actually want or need - but those don't come in until later in the decision-making process.

Kingsgrave1 votes

[{quoted}](name=The Blue Rooster,realm=NA,application-id=cIfEodbz,discussion-id=zlMuThi5,comment-id=000200000000,timestamp=2015-04-11T08:54:11.208+0000)

No it's not the same idea, if you're only going to drink 32 ounces of tea, but the only possible method available to buy that tea is by buying a gallon for 2.99, then it doesn't matter how much it costs "per ounce" you were forced to pay 2.99 for 32 ounces of tea. Sure you got more, but you didn't want more, you were forced to buy more, and you're not going to use more of that grade A non-transferrable tea.

You look at price per ounce to know how good of a deal you are getting. Even if the things of Tea are in different quantities, if one is less per ounce than the other it is usually a better deal money wise. Whether or not its better quality or you enjoy it more is not relevant to this. Its simply better financially to buy it over the other Teas.

If you don't want a good value for 3 skins, don't buy them. "you are forced to have the excess skins" is a pointless argument. If sold alone they would be like 2-3 dollars a pop. Riot even said so themselves. Pairing all 3 together reduces it to around 1.3-1.5 dollars a skin.

Duke Anax1 votes

Lets do it this way:

say you want to buy a pack of tea for 3 dollar, but the store will only give you a threepack of tea, coffee and cocoa for 5 dollar. Sure it's a good deal for them together, but what if you don't want any cocoa or coffee? Then you just bought a pack of tea for 5 dollar,

Jubbinaut1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Duke Anax,realm=EUW,application-id=cIfEodbz,discussion-id=zlMuThi5,comment-id=00020000000000010000,timestamp=2015-04-11T17:58:53.869+0000)

Lets do it this way:

say you want to buy a pack of tea for 3 dollar, but the store will only give you a threepack of tea, coffee and cocoa for 5 dollar. Sure it's a good deal for them together, but what if you don't want any cocoa or coffee? Then you don't buy tea in that store.

FTFY.

The "more than I want" aspect is important to making the decision on whether or not to buy something, but it's not really a variable on the price-per-unit comparison. It muddies the waters.

Duke Anax2 votes

Problem is there is no other store, So either you end up paying 5 dollar to get any tea, or you get no tea at all.

Jubbinaut1 votes

That's the decision to be made, yes. There are a lot of factors in that decision.

  • Unit price (What is the effective cost of each unit of the product?)
  • Comparative unit prices (How does unit price compare to similar products?)
  • Total price (What is the minimum I will have to pay for the product?)
  • Comparative total prices (How does the price compare to similar products?)
  • Personal interest/appeal (How much do I like it?)
  • Personal value (How much do I think it's worth?)

They each impact the final purchase decision, but aren't necessarily impactful on each other.

The point of OP's post is that the unit price really isn't that bad - and it's not. The comparative unit price isn't bad, either.

If you feel that the total price is more than you're willing to pay, that's a perfectly valid decision - but it doesn't relate to the unit price comparison.

If you feel that it's not worth what they're asking, that's also a perfectly valid decision - but also doesn't relate to the unit price comparison.

Duke Anax1 votes

That's exactly what I'm saying, but look a few posts above, OP is actually saying that it doesn't matter how much you pay as long as you get a good deal.

Jubbinaut1 votes

Meh. Reads to me like he's simply addressing the one aspect (value based on unit price) without attempting to make statements regarding the rest.

Personally, I appreciate it. I was planning on working it out eventually myself, out of curiosity, and he's saved me the time.

To each their own, though, I suppose.

Best Darius KR2 votes

Too bad i can make MY OWN for free So no.

Kingsgrave1 votes

{quoted}

Too bad i can make MY OWN for free So no.

That are lesser quality, buggy and only seen by you

Daen2 votes

This looks pretty good to me, for taking less than an hour. It even has particles recolored, which Riot has stated is too much effort for Chromas.

That are lesser quality, buggy and only seen by you

Subjective, false, true.

Kingsgrave1 votes

{quoted}

This looks pretty good to me, for taking less than an hour. It even has particles recolored, which Riot has stated is too much effort for Chromas.

Subjective, false, true.

The particle argument from Riot is because they are obsessed with QA and readability issues, which isn't really relevant if its only on your end. Its a common PR move by a company to claim something is difficult when in reality they just don't want to do it.

Quality isn't subjective. Your perceptions of what makes something quality are, but actual quality is objective. That is really one of the only custom chromas I've seen that isn't completely iffy. Look at the majority of the Chroma League of Legends reddit or that Leaguecraft site. Majority of it is garbage.

Sure you can just recolor it but you won't be able to show it off to others while in game nor will you be able to use it constantly without having to re-edit files every patch (which happens often)

How is editing the files as a 3rd party not going to be buggy? Have you never done it before? It being buggy is common knowledge.

Riot is basically charging you for convenience and not really forcing anyone to buy it, and those who do really aren't paying much at all for said convenience. Riot added these Chromas after surveys and constant requests showed them that people wanted it, and they don't want to just give away this added work for free and I don't really blame them.

Daen1 votes

That is really one of the only custom chromas I've seen that isn't completely iffy. Look at the majority of the Chroma League of Legends reddit or that Leaguecraft site. Majority of it is garbage.

You seem to be forgetting that the people at Riot working on these chromas are likely professional artists; many of the people making random chromas are likely complete novices at the craft.

How is editing the files as a 3rd party not going to be buggy? Have you never done it before? It being buggy is common knowledge.

According to those that have done chromas, the entire process is literally finding a texture file and scribbling on it with a color replacement tool. Nothing changes with the actual textures or the bitmap (the stuff that makes certain aesthetic pieces associated with certain model parts), it's just replacing colors. It's only buggy if you can't color between the lines.

Riot added these Chromas after surveys and constant requests showed them that people wanted it, and they don't want to just give away this added work for free and I don't really blame them.

I'm fine with them being exclusively gained via RP, as long as the price and model feel good to me. Removing the ability to purchase the content a la carte doesn't feel particularly compelling, and the lack of communication surrounding the effort required to produce the content makes it difficult to reach informed consensus.

The Blue Rooster1 votes

{quoted}

Riot added these Chromas after surveys and constant requests showed them that people wanted it, and they don't want to just give away this added work for free and I don't really blame them.

Yup, people wanted it, right up until RIot suggested they'd charge RP for it. Discussions on it got shut down for months after that. It's easy to gloss over that.

Jubbinaut1 votes

{quoted}

This looks pretty good to me, for taking less than an hour. It even has particles recolored, which Riot has stated is too much effort for Chromas.

Sure. But is an hour of your time really only worth $1.50?

Daen2 votes

If I make a product that takes me less than an hour and sell it to ten thousand people for $1.50 each with zero manufacturing costs, zero distribution costs, and zero production costs, I have just made fifteen thousand dollars in an hour. Riot obviously will have some overhead with QA, product managers, the fact it has to support the entire company, etc., but profit margins become disingenuous at a certain point.

Jubbinaut1 votes

That's certainly true, but that doesn't really answer my question, nor does it speak to the point I'm making.

How much do you value your time? Is $1.50 worth getting to spend an hour not making a recolor?

supes the lost1 votes

Trust me, I've done a small amount of skin editing myself, and custom skins are only as bad as the creator allows them to be, want to see for your self?

Step 1: Go to league craft Step 2: Go to my example of an awful skin, Snow Bunny Gnar Link: http://leaguecraft.com/skins/51833-snowbunny-gnar.xhtml Step 3: Go to to my example of an amazing skin, Yorick, The Undying (Blitz skin, hasn't been updated since season 4 so it probably won't work anymore) Link: http://leaguecraft.com/skins/4981-yorick-the-undying-nov-15-update-.xhtml Step 4: Compare

Cenobite Azaziel2 votes

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/horse-armor

Yeah. 2,5 dollar for a horse armor? Outrageous. 1,5 dollar for a recolor... what a bargain!

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